Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ Could Dethrone ‘The Marvels’ as Box Office’s Biggest Bomb
Tom Cruise has spent decades as Hollywood’s most dependable box office draw. When he teamed up with Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu for ‘Digger‘, Warner Bros. positioned it as a major awards play. Cruise was also playing against type, in a satire rather than an action movie.
The pitch was bold. Cruise stars as Digger Rockwell, a billionaire oil tycoon who causes, and must then fix, an ecological disaster. Warner Bros. marketed the film as a comedy of catastrophic proportions, with a supporting cast that includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons.
The release has gone disastrously. ‘Digger’ debuted with $20M globally and may become the biggest box office bomb of all time, surpassing ‘The Marvels‘. The film is expected to finish its run with less than $50M worldwide, costing Warner Bros. more than $200M, based on a $160M to $180M budget plus $100M in marketing.
The opening numbers are grim. Variety reported that ‘Digger’ collapsed to $8M from 3,321 North American theaters, with another $12M from 73 international markets. Rivals believe the domestic figure may land closer to $7.5M once the final numbers are tallied.
Tom Cruise’s DIGGER debut with $20M globally and may become the biggest box office bomb of all time, surpassing THE MARVELS. Currently, DIGGER is expected to finish its global run with less than $50M, making WB lose over $200M ($160M-180M + $100M marketing). https://t.co/cCq7uZkntq
— Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice) October 4, 2026
The budget is where estimates diverge. Warner Bros. greenlit the film at $125M, but the cost has been reported to have risen to between $160M and $180M after production ran long. A Warner Bros. spokesperson disputes that figure.
The studio then spent around $100M on global marketing. Variety puts the theatrical break-even point at roughly $350M globally, while Warner Bros. has put it at $300M. Either way, the trade says ‘Digger’ is primed to lose at least $150M to $200M theatrically.
That puts it in rare company. ‘The Marvels’ is widely cited as the biggest bomb of all time in raw dollars, with an estimated $237M loss for Disney, according to Deadline. It was made on a $270M budget. Variety said ‘Digger’ will be “potentially” one of the biggest bombs of all time, so the Global Box Office claim is a projection rather than a final verdict.
The opening is the worst of Cruise’s career in decades. It is his softest debut since ‘Lions for Lambs’ in 2007, a film that cost only $35M. IndieWire placed ‘Digger’ alongside historic flops like ‘John Carter’, ‘Cutthroat Island’ and ‘The Lone Ranger’.
Warning signs appeared before release. Thursday previews brought in just $1.2M, compared with $3.1M for last year’s ‘One Battle After Another’, which went on to a $22M opening. Independent projections had not exceeded $20M.
It did not help that ‘Verity’ opened to $32.6M the same weekend. ‘Digger’ was outgrossed by ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘Primetime’ as well.
The reception has been polarizing. The film holds a 52% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it Cruise’s first rotten movie in nine years and Iñárritu’s first. Audiences are kinder at about 71% to 72%, but CinemaScore gave it a C+.
A new trailer for ‘DIGGER’ has been released. In theaters October 2. https://t.co/kTEeFZI14E
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 9, 2026
Critics singled out the production values and Cruise’s performance, while some said the satire favored style over substance. NPR’s critic loved it, though he warned many viewers would hate it. As one analyst put it, expectations have to be set around what the movie is trying to be rather than what a Cruise name typically delivers.
There is another twist. ‘Digger’ is Warner Bros.’ last release as a standalone studio ahead of its merger with Paramount Skydance, which was set to close on Tuesday. The loss lands on Warner Bros. and producer Legendary Pictures.
For fans, the hope is that ‘Digger’ finds a second life through awards buzz or streaming.
Do you think Digger will become one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office bombs?
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