Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ Plunges Deeper Into Box Office Disaster as Projected Losses Climb
Tom Cruise has built a career on beating the odds, from daredevil stunts to billion-dollar blockbusters. His latest film, an ambitious satire with an acclaimed director, was supposed to be another bold swing.
Instead, its box office run is turning into one of the most talked-about disasters of the year, and the numbers just got worse.
‘Digger‘ pairs Cruise with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who won back-to-back Best Director Oscars for ‘Birdman’ and ‘The Revenant’. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a freewheeling oil tycoon whose reckless actions set off a cataclysmic ecological disaster.
The cast also includes Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde and Riz Ahmed. The film premiered in London on September 22 and was widely seen as a bid to land Cruise an acting Oscar.
After a second weekend, ‘Digger’ is now tracking to lose $245 million in its theatrical run, according to knowledgeable sources cited by Variety. That is a sharp rise from the earlier $150 million to $200 million estimate.
Ticket sales fell 60% in the second weekend, bringing the film’s tally to $14.4 million domestically and $35.3 million worldwide. Variety expects it to end its run with roughly $50 million globally. Deadline’s forecast had called for a slightly steeper 64% drop.
The film opened to $8 million from 3,321 North American theaters and $20 million worldwide, landing in fifth place. That marked Cruise’s lowest opening since ‘Lions for Lambs’ in 2007, which debuted with $6.7 million.
The pre-release tracking had been bleak even before opening, with projections falling from $18 million to $20 million down to $12 million to $15 million. Weeks before release, Cruise had lamented that movies now get only a weekend to prove themselves, a comment that has taken on new weight.
The film was greenlit at $125 million, but Variety reports the budget soared to between $160 million and $180 million after production went over schedule. Warner Bros. pushed back on those figures and puts the budget at $125 million to $150 million.
The studio also spent another $100 million on global marketing. Sources put the worldwide break-even point at around $350 million, while a studio spokesperson places it at around $300 million.
Executives at Warner Bros.’ new parent company, Skydance, told TheWrap the projected loss could reach $250 million. That would put ‘Digger’ alongside notorious money-losers such as ‘John Carter’, ‘The Lone Ranger’ and ‘The Marvels’.
The critical reaction has been divided. The film holds a 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it Cruise’s worst-reviewed movie in nearly a decade.
Warner Bros. leaned into the mixed reviews with an unusual advertising campaign urging audiences to decide for themselves. It did not move the needle at the box office, even though the 18-to-34 demographic made up a 60% majority of the crowd on opening weekend.
A film with a major star and an acclaimed director would normally command an Oscar campaign of around $15 million. Variety reports those efforts could now be scaled back given the film’s frosty reception.
That would be a blow for a project built as an awards play. Deadline described the film as ‘Birdman’ all over again, arguing it should have been positioned as an arthouse awards title at a much lower cost.
A new trailer for ‘DIGGER’ has been released. In theaters October 2. https://t.co/kTEeFZI14E
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 9, 2026
The studio has had a difficult stretch. The film follows the fizzling of ‘Supergirl’ and ‘The Bride!’ in theaters, and it arrives after the merger that put Warner Bros. under Skydance.
This weekend’s winner, ‘Other Mommy’, came in at $27.5 million, a reminder of how much lower-budget horror has outperformed expensive originals. ‘Verity’ opened to $32.6 million the weekend ‘Digger’ debuted.
For Cruise, the setback is rare. His ‘Mission: Impossible’ films helped make him one of Hollywood’s most reliable box office stars, and few expect one film to end that reputation.
What do you think is the biggest reason behind Digger’s box office disaster?
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