‘The Dog Stars’: Ridley Scott’s $100M+ Gamble, Thousands of Extras, Eyeing 2025 Release

So, Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” isn’t shooting until April, but I’m already hearing that there are plans to fast track the film for late 2025 release. Scott is teaming up with 20th Century on this one.

This would make sense since Scott, who tends to have 1-2 movies ready for release on any given year, has nothing lined up on the 2025 schedule. He was supposed to shoot his Bee Gees biopic last fall, but was delayed due to contractual dispute — Scott wanted to paid more money.

I’m told Scott, who will have around 1000 extras on the set of ‘Dog Stars,’ refused to sign on to direct unless 20th Century gave him a $100M+ budget. The result is that Scott is now embarking on yet another big-budget project.

‘Dog Stars’ is Scott’s upcoming adaptation of Peter Heller’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel. Jacob Elordi is set to play Hig, a widowed pilot and one of the few survivors in a world devastated by a global pandemic. Hig leads a solitary existence in an airplane hangar, with only his dog and a gruff gunman for company. His quiet life is suddenly disrupted when he intercepts a mysterious transmission on his Cessna radio, sparking a journey to uncover its origin.

Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin and Guy Pearce are also part of the ensemble cast. Scott is directing a screenplay written by Mark L. Smith (“Twisters,” “The Revenant”). That $100M budget does make sense when you take into account the actors involved, the setting and also the fact that the novel does have a handful of action set pieces.

Scott’s last two films were “Napoleon” and “Gladiator II,” both cost well over $200M, and ‘Dog Stars’ was supposed to be a welcome return to more intimate filmmaking for the filmmaker. Clearly not. This is going to be yet another costly risk for him.

Meanwhile, alongside ‘Bee Gees,’ Scott has seven other projects, percolating in development, including “Gladiator III,” “Freewalkers,” “Bomb,” and “Battle of Britain.” He turned 87 in November.