Why is that as high as it can go to you?
Because that's around the best most straight-forward scifi films do. It'd be one thing if they were selling it as an action film that happened to be in the future, but they aren't.
The Martian: $228 million domestic
Interstellar: $188 million
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: $176 million
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: $208 million
War for the Planet of the Apes: $146 million
Arrival: $100 million
Passengers: $100 million
Oblivion: $89 million
Minority Report: $132 million
Prometheus: $126 million
Treating it as a thriller isn't much better for the most part. Could it break out? Sure. But by and large, the prospects aren't great for scifi films. It's not the kind of film you'd normally spend $185 million on.