Tom Cruise Satire Digger Struggles at Box Office With Eight Million Debut

The Warner Bros. satirical feature film Digger opened to an estimated $8 million in North American theaters, according to reports from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, and IndieWire. Variety noted that the film played across 3,321 domestic venues, with competing studios estimating the weekend total could land closer to $7.5 million. Deadline reported a global weekend opening total of $20 million, while another release, Verity, led the domestic weekend box office with an estimated $32 million to $33 million. [1][2][3]

Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Digger stars Tom Cruise as a powerful oil tycoon preparing for an impending ecological disaster, Variety reported. Deadline and Variety both noted that Digger earned a C+ grade from audience polling service CinemaScore. Deadline added that the $8 million opening marks the lowest domestic debut for a Cruise feature since Lions for Lambs brought in $6.7 million in 2007. [1][2][3][4]

Studio sources estimate that the expensive production is on track to lose $150 million or more, according to IndieWire. Despite the low opening figures, Cruise stated on Instagram that he was honored to work alongside Iñárritu and was proud of what the team created, Deadline reported. [4][5]

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is an American actor and filmmaker whose career releases have grossed more than $13.3 billion worldwide. In theatrical distribution, films whose production, marketing, and distribution costs exceed total release revenues are classified as box-office failures. [12][14]