Ridley Scott’s Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Officially Finds a Second Life
In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 4000 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom. You can also hear Jake every week as the resident film and TV journalist on Track Radio.
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The return of sci-fi legends to the genre they're most famous for hasn't gone as smoothly as many had expected in 2026. Earlier this year, following an eight-year absence, Steven Spielberg was finally back in the driving seat for a sci-fi movie. Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, and Colin Firth, the first-contact tale Disclosure Day looked set to be a blast from the cinematic past, as Spielberg touched on all his best qualities to carve out a must-watch new sci-fi favorite.
Instead, the outcome was, as described by one critic, "a bit of a disappointment," as viewers and reviewers alike made their mixed feelings known. Partially due to these poor reviews, Disclosure Day only earned a global haul of $250 million against a reported budget of $115 million at the box office, a far cry from the all-conquering Spielberg blockbusters of old. But Disclosure Day looks like a mammoth box office victory when compared to another sci-fi icon's return.
In late August, and almost ten years after he directed Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott blessed audiences with a brand-new sci-fi tale, The Dog Stars. An adaptation of the acclaimed sci-fi novel of the same name by Peter Heller, the film featured a stacked cast including Josh Brolin, Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, and Benedict Wong, as well as the writing talents of Mark L. Smith. But this didn't prove enough to entice audiences, who dropped Scott's latest almost as soon as it had arrived on the big screen. Despite boasting a hefty $110 million budget, the film returned just $39.3 million in one of the most disastrous theatrical runs in 2026 so far.
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Crew Projection
Sci-Fi/Quizzes/Hero Match
PAUL ATREIDESCAPTAIN KIRKPRINCESS LEIAELLEN RIPLEYMAX ROCKATANSKY
Collider QuizWhich Sci-Fi Hero
Are You8 Questions · 5 LegendsFive iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.On The Manifest
Paul Atreides
Captain Kirk
Princess Leia
Ellen Ripley
Max Rockatansky
Jump 01 / 080% Plotted
Question 01LEADERSHIP
01How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher?The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
Pick one, then Next
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Question 02STRENGTH
02What is your greatest strength in a crisis?The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
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Question 03MOTIVATION
03What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for?Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
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Question 04PEOPLE
04How do you relate to the people around you?Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
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Question 05THREAT
05You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.
Pick one, then Next
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Question 06COST
06What has your heroism cost you personally?Every hero pays. The question is what, and whether they'd pay it again.
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Question 07RULES
07How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in?Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?
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Question 08PURPOSE
08When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Pick one, then Next
Your Hero Has Been IdentifiedYour Sci-Fi Hero Is
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
DunePaul AtreidesArrakis · Dune, 2021The hero who knows exactly what becoming one will cost.
You carry a weight most people would crumble under: the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.Why This Is You
- You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
- You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
- Paul Atreides is not simply a hero. He is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
- That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.
From The Collider File
- Dune: Part Three closes Denis Villeneuve's trilogy on December 18, 2026, adapting Dune Messiah.
- Messiah is the book that turns on its own hero, which is why Villeneuve waited to film it.
Sees It ComingCarries The WeightArrakis
Star TrekCaptain KirkUSS Enterprise · Star Trek, 1966The captain who refuses to accept that a no-win scenario exists.
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario, because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.Why This Is You
- You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
- Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
- Kirk's genius isn't tactical, it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
- That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
From The Collider File
- Paul Wesley's Kirk took the center chair in Strange New Worlds season 4, which premiered July 23, 2026.
- The producers have confirmed Kirk stays with the show through its final season.
No-Win ScenarioCrew FirstStarfleet
Star WarsPrincess LeiaThe Rebellion · A New Hope, 1977The one who holds the line when the line is all that's left.
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith, not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.Why This Is You
- You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakable.
- You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
- Leia is not a supporting character in her own story. She is the moral center of the entire rebellion.
- That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
From The Collider File
- Carrie Fisher was 19 when she shot A New Hope, and Leia's first scene in the saga is a refusal.
- Lucasfilm ruled out recreating her digitally, so her last appearance was built from footage she had already filmed.
Holds The LineThe CauseRebellion
AlienEllen RipleyThe Nostromo · Alien, 1979No speeches. Just the person still standing at the end.
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero. You just refuse to stop when it matters.Why This Is You
- You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
- Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech. She has a plan and the nerve to see it through.
- You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
- When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.
From The Collider File
- FX renewed Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth for a second season, pushing the franchise onto the home planet.
- Sigourney Weaver has said she is seriously weighing a return to Ripley after reading a new script.
No SpeechesHandles ItNostromo
Mad MaxMax RockatanskyThe Wasteland · Mad Max, 1979Lost everything, kept going anyway.
You have been through fire that would break most people, and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.Why This Is You
- You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
- Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute, but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
- Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
- That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
From The Collider File
- George Miller has a script for the next Mad Max, The Wasteland, but has said only that we will see whether it gets made.
- The 1979 original was shot for a few hundred thousand Australian dollars and became one of the most profitable films ever made.
Outlasts ItEarned LoyaltyWasteland
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'The Dog Stars' Is Bouncing Back
In the streaming age, any box office flop has the chance of redemption on the small screen. It seems that, during a tough box office month in August, when audiences were burnt out after Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, they decided to wait for Scott's newest sci-fi project to hit streaming. At the time of writing, The Dog Stars is one of the ten most-watched movies on Amazon in the U.S., a list topped by the big recent horror hit Resident Evil.
The Dog Stars is one of the ten most-watched movies on Amazon in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more.
- Release Date
- August 28, 2026
- Runtime
- 119 minutes
- Director
- Ridley Scott
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Hig
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CIMA
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Bangley
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Pops
- Writers
- Mark L. Smith
- Producers
- Mark L. Smith, Michael A. Pruss, Ridley Scott, Cliff Roberts
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.