A new trailer and poster for Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars are available, and Disney's UK announcement of June 10, 2026 sets the film's cinema opening for August 26. The film comes from 20th Century Studios and adapts Peter Heller's novel. The August 26 date is the one given in Disney's UK announcement; other territories are not covered by it.
The story the trailer sets up
Jacob Elordi plays Hig, a young pilot who has built an efficient but isolated homestead in a brutal post-apocalyptic world alongside Bangley, a military survivalist played by Josh Brolin. The plot turns when Hig picks up a mysterious radio transmission and leaves the safety of that arrangement to look for whatever remains of hope and humanity beyond it.
Disney's framing — survival is instinct, but humanity is a choice — points at the tension the two leads embody: a pilot willing to risk everything on a signal, and a survivalist whose whole method depends on not doing that.
The ensemble around the two leads
Beyond Elordi and Brolin, the cast includes Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong and Guy Pearce. Mark L. Smith wrote the screenplay from Heller's novel, and also produces alongside Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss and Cliff Roberts. Lily Brooks-Dalton, Brandon Scott Smith, Peter Heller and Aidan Elliott are executive producers, with Heller's involvement giving the adaptation a direct line back to the source novel.
Where it sits in Scott's run of work
This is Scott adapting an existing novel rather than an original screenplay, and a contained survival story rather than the large-scale historical productions that have occupied much of his recent output. The premise concentrates on two men and a homestead before it opens outward, which is a tighter frame than the ensemble spectacle the trailer's scale might suggest. With the cinema date roughly three weeks out from Disney's announcement window, the marketing push is already in its final stretch.
What the announcement does not cover
The release gives no runtime, no certificate rating, and no detail on how closely the adaptation follows the novel's ending. It does not address streaming or home release, and it does not confirm dates for territories outside the UK. The descriptions of the film as riveting and epic are the distributor's language rather than an assessment, and NexusGG has not seen the film.
