Tom Cruise's "Digger" Headed for $250 Million Loss, Report Says

Tom Cruise’s “Digger” is headed for a $250 million loss, even after post-theatrical revenue, the biggest of the star’s career, TheWrap reported Wednesday.

The figure roughly doubles earlier estimates. Previous projections put the damage at about $125 million, and other outlets cited a range of $125 million to $150 million. The film opened to $8 million in North America and about $21 million worldwide. Insiders at Skydance, which took control of Warner Bros. this week, told TheWrap the movie is not expected to pass $40 million globally. Executives there were stunned by the scale of the loss when the company changed hands. A Warner Bros. representative declined to comment.

Costs drive the gap. Multiple insiders put the production budget at $173 million, part of it an unexpected insurance settlement, while another source said $163 million. Marketing added about $100 million, largely for Cruise’s global press tour. Warner Bros. financed the film alone, with no partner to share the risk.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s satire casts Cruise as a paunchy, balding oil magnate whose wells trigger a worldwide environmental catastrophe. Reviews split. Some critics found it confusing, while others called it bold and gleefully over the top. It holds a 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

David Zaslav himself approved the project, TheWrap was told, as the first film under a new Cruise pact for original and franchise titles. It was one of several large bets on auteur directors by Warner Bros. film chiefs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca. “Sinners” earned $327 million and four Oscars, and “One Battle After Another” took $213 million and won best picture. “The Bride!” made $24 million.

Skydance chairman David Ellison has since removed Abdy and De Luca and put Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein in charge of film output for both Paramount and Warner Bros. The new team gets its own Cruise project next year, “Days of Thunder 2,” which co-stars Anne Hathaway and starts production at Paramount. Cruise has publicly stood behind “Digger,” saying he was honored to make it with talented artists.