The release of Ridley Scott’s latest film ‘The Dog Stars’ has crashed at the box office. Costing in the region of $100m it opened to a meagre $9m weekend and is thought unlikely to make back even half its budget by the end of its run. But the problem for the highly regarded director is that this is just the latest in a line of flops. The eagerly awaited Gladiator II made $462m but with a budget though to be in the region of $210m and following the rule of thumb that takes into account factors such as marketing and distribution as a rule of thumb a film needs to make back 2.5 times its budget to break even meaning that Gladiator II needed to make $525m. It made $462m. It’s the latest in a line of flops so is it time for Ridley Scott to retire?
A succession of flops….
In fact his last bona fide hit was all the way back in 2015 with The Martian that made a huge $630m. After that the six films he made have lost money Gladiator II, Napoleon, All the Money in the World, House of Gucci (being released just as we came out of lockdown hardly helped) whereas Alien Covenant just about broke even but The Last Duel was a financial disaster barely scraping $30m.
The Noughties had not been kind to the director either although it started off well enough. Released in 2000 Gladiator was a big hit both critically and commercially and he followed it up with Hannibal a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs which turned a healthy profit even if it wasn’t held in the same regard as the first film. However his next three films fared badly financially. Black Hawk Down, the under rated Matchstick Man and Kingdom of Heaven especially lost money. These were followed by ‘A Good Year’ a film that no one remembers despite starring Russel Crowe before Scott hit box office success again with American Gangster starring Denzel Washington. But that was followed by two more duds, ‘Body of Lies’ despite starring Leonardo DiCaprio and the hugely expensive ‘Robin Hood’ with Crowe in the title lead. That film cost a monumental $200m earning only $321m falling far short of the $500 it need to break even.
It was only his return to the Alien franchise with the much anticipated Prometheus in 2012 that saw him with a much needed box office hit and he followed that with low budget gritty crime thriller ‘The Counsellor’ with an all star cast that included Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz amongst others that only cost £25m but again his next film the $140m Exodus Gods and Kings flopped.
It all started well….
You have to go right back to the start of his career with the stunningly shot The Duellists followed by Alien and Blade Runner which defined him as a singular artist with an eye for composition as did the Tom Cruise starrer ‘Legend’ although the film was really a testament to the brilliance of make-up artist Rob Bottin who had created the effects for John Carpenters remake of ‘The Thing’ that remains one of the defining films in horror.
The 90’s saw him make the influential Thelma & Louise but again he followed it with a succession of flop films that included ‘1492 : Conquest of Paradise’ and ‘White Squall’ which were catastrophic failures with the former only earning $7m nowhere near to even making its production budget back. Both were then followed by Demi Moore starrer, ‘GI Jane’ that was risible rather than the feminist tract it hoped to be as had been the case with Thelma and Louise.
Why it might be time for Ridley Scott to retire….
So many of his Scott’s films are so clearly his with visually striking images and his best films have been influential in their genre : Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and all made money for the studios. His career has seen him banging out films roughly at eighteen month intervals sometimes more frequently – 2017 saw Alien Covenant & All the Money in the World and 2021 saw The Last Duel and House of Gucci. Of late even senior members of his crew have raised doubts notably cinematographer John Mathieson, who had shot Gladiator, Hannibal, Robin Hood, Matchstick Men, Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator II, said that the director had got ‘lazy’ adding “It’s a bit rush, rush, rush. That’s changed in him…..But that’s the way he wants to do it, and I don’t like it, and I don’t think many people do, but people love his films, and he’s Ridley Scott and can do what he wants.” That the director shoots with multiple cameras now suggest that what he shoots is more like coverage than directing and Josh Brolin nearly quit Dog Star because of this style of shooting.
Critical acclaim…
That aside his films often earn Oscar nods even if they are financial flop and Scott himself has earned four Best Director Oscar nominations his most recent being for The Martian and it will now get an honorary Oscar at the 2026 Governor’s Ball along with Glenn Close who has had eight nominations and never won.
Ridley Scott turns 89 in November 2026 and is arguably now the oldest working A list director after Clint Eastwood has now formally retired and Woody Allen only making the occasional film. Scott has joked that if he stops directing then he’ll die and with eight films in pre- production including a rumoured return to the Alien franchise to finish off his Prometheus trilogy it seems unlikely that he will stop anytime soon with Treasure Island rumoured to be next. But with big box office hits increasingly few and far between the studios might now be re-considering funding further Ridley Scott films with 9 figure budgets. So it time for Ridley Scott to retire?
related feature : ‘The Dog Stars’ World Premiere: Ridley Scott, Jacob Elordi & cast hit London
related feature : Why Aliens 2.5 was cancelled….
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