Tom Cruise’s Digger collapsed at the box office this weekend, opening to an estimated $8 million in North America and handing Warner Bros. an expensive final release before Paramount Skydance absorbs the studio.
The satirical comedy from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu played in 3,321 theaters and landed well below the $12 million to $15 million the studio projected days earlier. It is Cruise’s weakest domestic debut since Lions for Lambs in 2007. Overseas sales added $12 million from 73 markets for a $20 million global opening. The Hoover adaptation Verity won the weekend with about $32 million.
The financial hole is deep. Warner Bros. approved a $125 million budget, but production ran long, and reports place the final cost between $160 million and $180 million. A studio spokesperson disputed the higher figure. Marketing took roughly another $100 million. Executives familiar with comparable films put the global break-even point near $350 million, while the studio says $300 million. Estimates of the theatrical loss run from $150 million to $200 million.
Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon who triggers an environmental catastrophe and then casts himself as humanity’s savior. John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed and Jesse Plemons fill out the cast. Reviews were poor and word of mouth weak. The film also skipped a festival premiere, a decision analysts now question.
The timing stings. Studio film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who greenlit Digger after a 2025 that produced the Oscar winners One Battle After Another and Sinners, leave when the merger closes Tuesday. Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, who run Paramount’s film operation, take over. Deadline reported that Paramount Skydance co-CEO David Ellison declined to honor their contracts, and noted the pair had rejected other costly Cruise pitches, including a $270 million underwater thriller.
Variety called the weekend a warning about the price of auteur swings, which the industry needs but cannot fund with blank checks. For Cruise, the result is a second straight money-loser after last year’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. He has said he is proud of what the team made.
