In “Digger,” Tom Cruise portrays a powerful oil tycoon who is bracing for an ecological disaster of epic proportions. But nothing could have prepared him for the catastrophe that’s unfolding at the box office, where “Digger” has collapsed with an embarrassing $8 million from 3,321 North American theaters. Rivals believe the tally will be closer to $7.5 million when the final numbers are tallied on Monday.
With a production budget of $160 to $180 million, “Digger” will wind up as not just one of the biggest bombs of the year but potentially of all time. Warner Bros. was hoping the combination of Tom Cruise, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and director Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose critical and commercial wins include “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” would at least propel initial grosses to $18 million to $20 million. And even those ticket sales would have been financially disastrous for the mega-budgeted film. Box office experts say a movie of this size would have needed a debut near $40 million to justify its price tag. Those projections were revised down (and revised down again) after a deluge of bad buzz. The R-rated satire opened in fifth place behind another newcomer, Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson’s psychological thriller “Verity,” and three holdovers, including “Resident Evil” and “Heart of the Beast.”
“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,” says analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Re. “The comedy walks a fine line, and when it misses, it misses.”
Reviews and word-of-mouth for “Digger” have been so negative that Warner Bros. tried to embrace the unfavorable press. In a recent ad, the studio told moviegoers to “decide for yourself” after critics bashed the movie as “unpleasant” and “baffling.” Another marketing spot suggested that only American audiences disliked “Digger.” However the movie was equally rejected at the international box office with a tragic $12 million from 73 international markets for a global start of $20 million.
“Digger” was always a gamble as the rare big-budget, star-driven R-rated original comedy. Warner Bros. greenlit the film for $125 million, but the price tag soared after production ran long. Since the studio spent another $100 million on global marketing efforts, “Digger” has a theatrical break-even point of roughly $350 million globally, according to executives with knowledge of similar films. A Warner Bros. spokesperson pushed back, saying the film’s break-even point is $300 million. Either way, “Digger” is primed to lose at least $150 million to $200 million theatrically. (Theater owners keep roughly half of ticket sales.) Profitability for the studio will take even longer because Cruise gets first-dollar gross, meaning he earns a percentage of revenues before the studio recoups any costs.
“Even with respectable ancillary income based on the film’s pedigree,” says Gross, referring to revenue streams like digital rental, sales, streaming and TV licensing, “the movie is going to lose a lot of money.”
“Digger” extends a dismal year for Warner Bros. — having fielded such misfires as “The Bride” and “Supergirl” — and the timing was terrible. Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. is set to close next week. News broke on Friday that Warner co-chief’s Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are leaving the studio when the merger closes on Oct. 6. The duo enjoyed a terrific box office run in 2025, with a stellar string of hits including “Sinners,” “A Minecraft Movie” and “Weapons.” But after pushing a number of big swings into 2026, not a single film has managed to cross $100 million domestically.
This time last year, few in Hollywood would have expected “Verity” to prevail over “Digger” at the domestic box office. Amazon MGM’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-seller has landed in first place with a solid $32.6 million from 3,510 theaters. It ranks as Hathaway’s third No. 1 opening of 2026 after this summer’s blockbusters “The Devil Wears Prada 2″ and “The Odyssey.” A very pregnant Hathaway has recently joked that she’s now going to disappear for the rest of the year.
“Verity” collected another $30 million at the international box office, bringing its worldwide tally to $62.5 million.
Directed by “The Big Sick” filmmaker Michael Showalter, “Verity” centers around famed author Verity Crawford (Hathaway) who gets badly injured in a car accident, leaving her husband (Josh Hartnett) to hire a struggling writer (Johnson) to complete the remaining books in the popular series. Reviews and word-of-mouth has been negative; the film was saddled with a “C+” grade on CinemaScore and 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, “Verity” was produced for $40 million and is expected to turn a profit for Amazon MGM.
“This is an excellent opening,” Gross says. “The reception is not hurting the film. Audiences are showing up in big numbers.”
Hollywood has been eager to mine Hoover’s novels for the big screen because her work caters to an underserved female demographic, and the film adaptations carry modest production budgets, making them low-risk bets for studios. Opening weekend crowds for “Verity” were 78% female, while the largest age demo (38%) were between 25 and 34 years old. Among Hoover’s adaptations, “Verity” registers the second-biggest debut behind Sony’s 2024 sleeper hit “It Ends With Us” ($50 million) and ahead of Paramount’s 2025 film “Regretting You” (13.6 million) and Universal’s 2026 movie “Reminders of Him” ($17 million). “It Ends With Us” is the highest-grossing of the trio by far with $350 million globally.
With general audiences rejecting “Digger,” Sony’s video game reboot “Resident Evil” remained in second place with $12.5 million in its third weekend of release. So far the R-rated movie, directed by Zach Cregger of “Weapons” fame, has generated a strong $124.8 million domestically and $215 million globally against a $75 million budget.
“Resident Evil” is the second consecutive box office win for Sony following “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which has now generated a staggering $954 million in North America and $2.5 billion globally. It’s the third-highest grossing movie in history behind “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.925 billion) and “Avatar” ($2.923 billion). Thanks to Disney’s recent re-release of “Avengers: Endgame,” which has collected a huge $126 million in two weekends, the Marvel behemoth once again ranks as the biggest release of all time. Disney reissued the blockbuster (with extra footage) to generate hype for “Avengers: Doomsday,” which lands on the big screen in December.
Third place went to “Heart of the Beast” with $11 million in its sophomore outing, a 45% decline from its debut. So far, the Brad Pitt-led survival thriller has grossed $38.3 million in North America and $98.6 million worldwide and will imminently cross the $100 million mark. Since Paramount spent $82 million to produce the well-reviewed film, “Heart of the Beast” will rely on staying power and interest at the international box office to recoup in its theatrical run.
“Primetime,” a psychological drama starring Robert Pattinson as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen, landed at No. 4 with $8 million in its second weekend. That’s a steeper 58% drop from its strong $19 million opening. So far, “Primetime” has amassed $34 million in North America against a modest $15 million budget. The movie, backed by A24, has yet to open in most international territories.
More to come…
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