Authored by James Lyons-Weiler via Brownstone Institute,
Anthony Fauci does not appear in The Dog Stars. He is nevertheless in the theater.
Ridley Scott's new science-fiction film opens after a catastrophic flu has erased most of humanity. A pilot, his dog, and an armed former Marine inhabit what remains. The machinery is familiar: contagion, social collapse, desperate survivors, violent scavengers, and one more search for a pocket of human decency after civilization has failed. Scott did not invent this machinery, but the director of Alien and Blade Runner is one of the people who taught modern audiences how to surrender to it.
This time, audiences largely stayed home. The Dog Stars opened in fifth place with about $8 million in North America and another $11.3 million overseas, against a reported production budget of $70 million to $100 million. The Associated Press called it a flop. The result was especially poor because Boxoffice Pro had forecast an $18 million to $23 million domestic opening. The film landed at less than half the low end of that range.
There are ordinary explanations. Critics found the movie slow and derivative. As of September 1, Rotten Toma
