Hollywood Rushes to Defend Tom Cruise's 'Digger' as a Brutal Box Office Collapse Threatens to Become One of the Biggest Flops Ever

Tom Cruise has spent decades as the ultimate box office safety net, so a failure on this scale feels almost unthinkable. His new collaboration with director Alejandro G. Inarritu was supposed to be a bold swing, and it certainly looks like one. The question now is whether ‘Digger’ will be remembered as a catastrophe, a misunderstood gamble or both.

The film arrived with a premise that sounded dangerous and a marketing campaign that leaned on Cruise’s entire career. Early reviews split critics down the middle, and the opening weekend numbers made the situation even more dramatic.

In the wake of the disappointing debut, a remarkable group of film figures has publicly backed ‘Digger‘. Guillermo del Toro, Anne Hathaway, Jane Fonda and Mandy Patinkin are among those who have praised the movie, with Variety collecting their reactions in one report. Del Toro’s message was a blunt call to value the arts over the charts, while Patinkin urged audiences to run to theaters and see the film.

Hathaway posted what appears to be her first-ever Letterboxd review, rating the film five stars and praising it as brilliant and ambitious. She also encouraged people to watch it and decide for themselves. Fonda, writing on Instagram, praised the film as courageous and said it shows another side of Cruise’s bravery.

Del Toro went further on X, saying the negative reviews were petty and arguing that the movie works best in a theater. He also replied to a post about films that critics once panned, citing ‘The Big Lebowski’, ‘The King of Comedy’ and ‘The Counselor’. Alfonso Cuaron shared retrospectives of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Under the Skin’, films that critics initially criticized before they were reappraised.

Entirely Petty headline. Love it or not. And, yes, I do. The film delivers in scale, ambition and reach at a theatrical screen level. Daring, bold and Cinematically complex. Decidedly a Theatrical experience.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) October 1, 2026

Glen Powell, Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ co-star, said the film will stand the test of time, and Ron Howard called it impressive on many levels. Some of those defenders have professional or personal ties to Cruise or Inarritu, which has led to some skepticism. Even so, the unusual enthusiasm has given the film a passionate online fan base, who have started calling themselves the “Digger Hive.”

‘Digger’ opened to about $20 million worldwide, with $8 million in the US and Canada and $12 million internationally. That put it in fifth place domestically and marked Cruise’s weakest opening in nearly two decades. The last of his films to open lower was ‘Lions for Lambs’ in 2007, which earned $6.7 million.

The film’s reported production budget is $125 million to $150 million, with roughly $100 million more spent on marketing. Industry estimates suggest it could lose at least $150 million during its theatrical run, while TheWrap has projected a loss of $250 million. By comparison, ‘Verity’, starring Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, topped the North American box office that weekend with $32.6 million.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon whose actions help trigger an environmental catastrophe. In the story, his drilling in Greenland releases methane and loosens an ice shelf that drifts toward Europe, threatening a tsunami. One critic compared the film to ‘Dr. Strangelove’, with crude oil as the doomsday device.

The cast also includes Riz Ahmed, Sandra Huller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons. Inarritu co-wrote the script with Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone and Sabina Berman, and he reunited with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. Production designer Dennis Gassner built the film’s bleak visuals.

A new trailer for ‘DIGGER’ has been released. In theaters October 2. https://t.co/kTEeFZI14E
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 9, 2026

Reviews have been sharply split. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 52% Tomatometer score and a 72% Popcornmeter score, after the film debuted lower. Some critics praised it as one of the boldest studio films in years, while others called it a heavy-handed satire that overestimates its own intelligence.

Even critics who disliked the movie tended to single out Cruise’s committed performance and the work of Ahmed. Inarritu has acknowledged that the film is not perfect, but he has said he likes taking risks. That attitude fits the film’s reputation as a daring and polarizing project.

History is full of films that flopped at the box office and later became beloved, which is exactly the argument the movie’s defenders are making. Whether ‘Digger’ joins that list will depend on how audiences respond over time. For now, the film sits at the center of a very public debate about art, commerce and loyalty in Hollywood.