The last few years have been full of ups and downs for Ridley Scott, the sci-fi savant best known for his work on films such as Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator. Scott has been on hiatus from the sci-fi genre for almost 10 years after he last directed Alien: Covenant, the sequel to his Alien prequel film, Prometheus (starring Michael Fassbender). Scott’s last directorial feature came at the end of 2024 when he returned to the colosseum for Gladiator II, but the omission of Russell Crowe was hard for some fans to look past, and the film struggled at the box office under the weight of its bloated $250 million budget. Scott is sorely due for a box office hit, but only time will tell if his return to sci-fi with The Dog Stars will provide that, or if he’ll have to wait for his next feature outing.

If The Dog Stars doesn’t do well in theaters, it won’t be for lack of recognizable stars. Scott has enlisted some big names like Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin to star in key roles in The Dog Stars, with the supporting cast fleshed out by Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong, and more. The review embargo for The Dog Stars was lifted this evening, and critics were finally able to share their opinions on the film via Rotten Tomatoes. At the time of writing, The Dog Stars‘ RT score is still developing, but reviews thus far have been fairly mixed. Collider’s review by Gabrielle Moss described the film as “an awkward marriage” between popcorn movies and sci-fi epics, earning it a 6/10.