Tom Cruise’s DIGGER Crashes Hard at the Box Office With Brutal $8 Million Domestic Opening
Tom Cruise’s latest big-screen swing just ran headfirst into a box office disaster. Digger, the expensive R-rated black comedy from Alejandro González Iñárritu, opened to a brutal $8 million from 3,321 theaters in North America, with rival studios expecting the final number could land closer to $7.5 million.
Meanwhile, Verity, starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, easily took the weekend with a much healthier $32.6 million debut.
That’s a painful result for Digger, especially considering Warner Bros. spent somewhere between $160 million and $180 million making it. Even the studio’s earlier hopes of an $18 million to $20 million opening would have been rough for a movie this expensive.
Box office analysts estimated that Digger really needed something closer to $40 million out of the gate to make its enormous price tag remotely workable. Instead, the movie landed in fifth place. This is rough.
In Digger, Tom Cruise plays a powerful oil tycoon facing an enormous ecological catastrophe. Pairing Cruise with Iñárritu, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Birdman and The Revenant, certainly looked like an intriguing combination. The problem was convincing general audiences to spend money on a strange, R-rated original satire.
“For a black comedy, the numbers are not bad. But black comedies are small films, and this isn’t a small film. It’s a Tom Cruise movie,” Franchise Re analyst David A. Gross explained. “The comedy walks a fine line, and when it misses, it misses.”
The negative reviews certainly didn’t help. Warner Bros. eventually leaned into the criticism with advertising encouraging audiences to “decide for yourself” after reviewers described the movie as “unpleasant” and “baffling.” Another promotional push suggested American audiences were particularly hostile toward the film.
Unfortunately, international moviegoers weren’t rushing out to see it either. Digger earned just $12 million from 73 international markets, giving it a miserable $20 million worldwide opening.
The financial situation gets even uglier when you dig into the numbers. Warner Bros. initially greenlit the film at $125 million, but costs climbed after the production ran long. The studio then reportedly spent another $100 million marketing it around the world.
Executives familiar with similar releases estimate Digger would need roughly $350 million worldwide to break even theatrically, while Warner Bros. maintains that figure is closer to $300 million. Neither number looks close to being attainable right now.
The movie could ultimately lose between $150 million and $200 million during its theatrical run. Cruise also reportedly has a first-dollar gross deal, meaning he receives a percentage of revenue before Warner Bros. recovers its costs.
“Even with respectable ancillary income based on the film’s pedigree,” Gross said, referring to digital rentals, purchases, streaming and television licensing, “the movie is going to lose a lot of money.”
It’s really no surprise that Digger crashed and burned this hard. I actually liked the movie more than a lot of people did. I appreciated what Iñárritu was attempting, how different it felt, and the fact that a major studio put this much money behind something so unusual. Cruise is fantastic in it, and the rest of the cast delivers as well.
But enjoying what the movie is doing and believing it could become a mainstream hit are two completely different things.
The story and especially the way that story is told were always going to be a tough sell. This isn’t the kind of Tom Cruise movie where audiences know they’re getting a giant action spectacle. Even people curious about Digger have plenty of reason to wait until it arrives on streaming. I imagine that’s where most people are eventually going to experience it.
The flop also adds another problem to Warner Bros.’ rough 2026, which has already included disappointing performances from The Bride and Supergirl. It comes at an especially awkward moment as Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. is expected to close on October 6, with Warner co-chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy departing when the deal closes.
That follows an excellent 2025 for the studio that included Sinners, A Minecraft Movie and Weapons. Warner Bros.’ bigger 2026 gambles haven’t worked nearly as well, with none of its releases crossing $100 million domestically so far.
While Digger was getting hammered, Verity was having a considerably better weekend. Amazon MGM’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel took first place with $32.6 million from 3,510 theaters. International audiences added another $30 million, bringing Verity to $62.5 million worldwide.
Directed by Michael Showalter, Verity follows successful author Verity Crawford, played by Hathaway, after a serious car accident leaves her badly injured. Her husband, played by Josh Hartnett, hires a struggling writer, played by Dakota Johnson, to finish the remaining books in Verity’s popular series.
Audiences and critics haven’t exactly embraced this one either. Verity received a C+ CinemaScore and sits at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, but those reactions didn’t stop moviegoers from showing up during opening weekend.
“This is an excellent opening,” Gross said. “The reception is not hurting the film. Audiences are showing up in big numbers.”
More importantly for Amazon MGM, Verity cost only $40 million to produce and is expected to turn a profit. That continues to demonstrate why Hollywood is interested in Hoover’s books. They appeal strongly to an audience studios want to reach, while their comparatively reasonable budgets keep the financial risk under control.
I also saw Verity, and despite its box office success, I wasn’t much of a fan. It’s certainly a more straightforward Hollywood studio movie than Digger, but it didn’t do much for me. Whatever problems Digger has, at least I found it interesting.
Elsewhere at the box office, Sony’s Resident Evil reboot held onto second place with $12.5 million in its third weekend. Directed by Zach Cregger, the R-rated video game adaptation has now earned $124.8 million domestically and $215 million worldwide against a $75 million production budget.
That gives Sony another strong performer following Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has reached an incredible $954 million domestically and $2.5 billion worldwide. It currently ranks as the third-highest-grossing movie ever behind Avengers: Endgame at $2.925 billion and Avatar at $2.923 billion.
Disney’s recent re-release of Avengers: Endgame, which includes additional footage, has brought in another $126 million across two weekends and pushed the Marvel blockbuster back into the all-time No. 1 position. The re-release is also helping Disney build toward Avengers: Doomsday this December.
Heart of the Beast took third place with $11 million in its second weekend, dropping 45% from its debut. The Brad Pitt survival thriller has earned $38.3 million domestically and $98.6 million worldwide so far. With an $82 million production budget, it will need continued staying power and stronger international business to make its theatrical run work financially.
Fourth place belonged to Primetime, which earned $8 million in its second weekend, a 58% decline from its $19 million opening. The A24 psychological drama stars Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen and has earned $34 million domestically against a modest $15 million budget. It still hasn’t opened across most international markets.
The weekend ultimately delivered two very different lessons in Hollywood economics. Verity didn’t need audiences to love it to become a financial success. It needed a manageable budget and a clearly defined audience that wanted to see it.
Digger needed a whole lot more. I’m glad movies as strange as Digger can still get made on this scale, and I enjoyed it despite its problems.
But spending upward of $160 million on an unconventional R-rated black comedy was always an enormous gamble. Audiences clearly weren’t willing to take that ride with Cruise in theaters, and now Warner Bros. is staring at one of the most savage box office bombs of the year.
Source: Variety