Ronny Sianturi
Tom Cruise’s high-profile, big-budget satirical drama Digger is facing an unexpectedly steep uphill battle at the North American box office, threatening to become one of the lowest-grossing wide-release openings of the superstar’s illustrious career. Directed by Academy Award-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu and backed by a substantial $125 million production budget, the Warner Bros. release grossed a meager $3.3 million on its opening Friday—a figure that includes Thursday preview screenings. Industry tracking and studio projections now indicate that the film is heading toward a dismal opening weekend of approximately $8 million across 3,300 domestic locations.
This performance falls significantly short of even Warner Bros.’ already lowered conservative projections, which anticipated a domestic debut in the range of $12 million to $15 million. For Cruise, whose name has historically been synonymous with blockbuster dominance—most notably anchored by massive action franchises such as Mission: Impossible and the historic cultural phenomenon Top Gun: Maverick—an $8 million launch represents a startling commercial departure. The film is currently tracking to land below the opening weekend of his 2007 political war drama Lions for Lambs, which debuted to $6.7 million against a much smaller financial footprint.
Creative Risk and Polarizing Audience Reception
Digger represents a massive creative pivot for Cruise, who completely subverts his traditional leading-man persona by transforming physically into an overweight, balding oil tycoon at the center of an environmental catastrophe. The dark satire also features an acclaimed ensemble cast, including Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, and Sandra Hüller.
However, this bold artistic departure has deeply divided both audiences and critics. General moviegoers awarded the film a dismal C+ CinemaScore—tying it with Lions for Lambs as one of the lowest audience grades of Cruise’s career. Critical reception has been similarly lukewarm; the film holds a 51 percent approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, chief film critic David Rooney characterized the ambitious project as "dead and buried."
Despite the rocky commercial and critical start, studio executives and industry analysts are adopting a wait-and-see approach regarding the film’s long-term trajectory. Warner Bros. continues to hold out hope that awards season consideration and specialized audience discovery could grant the picture unexpected box office legs in the coming weeks. As Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, noted, evaluating a project of this nature requires shifting conventional metrics: "We have to place our expectations around what this movie is and what it’s trying to be, rather than what the name Tom Cruise might normally be expected to deliver at the box office."
A Transitional Moment for Warner Bros. Pictures
The underperformance of Digger arrives at a particularly poignant and turbulent moment in Hollywood history, marking an inauspicious final theatrical release for Warner Bros. as an independent studio entity. The studio is currently on the precipice of a massive corporate realignment, with Paramount Skydance’s monumental $111 billion merger slated to be officially finalized on October 6.
This corporate transition coincides with major leadership changes within the film division. Just days prior to the release of Digger, news broke that Warner Bros. motion picture chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are stepping down from their posts, with executive successors Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein poised to take the reins. While De Luca and Abdy presided over a dazzling slate of critical and commercial successes throughout 2025—including acclaimed Academy Award winners One Battle After Another and Sinners—the studio’s 2026 theatrical output has encountered significant headwinds and mixed financial results.
Broader Box Office Landscape: Verity Claims the Top Spot
While Digger founders, the broader domestic box office is being led by Amazon MGM Studios’ suspense thriller Verity. Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel and directed by Michael Showalter, the film capitalized on the onset of the autumn "spooky season." Starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett, Verity pulled in $15.1 million on Friday, inclusive of Thursday previews, and is projected to secure the No. 1 spot domestically with a robust $33.6 million opening from 3,510 theaters.
Like Digger, Verity experienced a notable disconnect between commercial turnout and critical reception. The film earned a C+ CinemaScore from audiences and holds a 34 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Hollywood Reporter critic Richard Lawson dismissing the adaptation as a "literary misfire."
Further down the box office chart, holdovers continue to display steady stamina. Sony’s Resident Evil reboot, directed by Zach Cregger and starring Austin Abrams, is holding firm at No. 2 in its third frame. The horror property is expected to add $12 million this weekend, pushing its cumulative domestic gross to approximately $124.3 million.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s military survival drama Heart of the Beast, directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt as a Special Forces officer stranded in the wilderness with his combat dog, is tracking for an $11 million second weekend, bringing its domestic total to roughly $38 million. A24’s fact-based thriller Primetime, featuring Robert Pattinson as journalist Chris Hansen under the direction of Lance Oppenheim, is anticipated to gross $8 million in its sophomore frame, lifting its cumulative domestic earnings to approximately $34 million—comfortably outpacing Digger‘s opening weekend trajectory.
Rounding out the notable wide releases, Lionsgate’s creature-feature horror offering Beware Boiúna, directed by upcoming Saw helmer Mike P. Nelson and starring Kiana Madeira and Jessica Rothe, opened quietly with $500,000 across 1,121 theaters. The giant-snake thriller holds a 55 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As the autumn theatrical season progresses, the industry looks ahead to next weekend’s high-profile calendar additions, which include the Jessica Chastain-led chiller Other Mommy and Aaron Sorkin’s anticipated drama The Social Reckoning.
