Tom Cruise's Digger set to become one of the biggest box-office flops of all time

With a rumoured budget of $180 million, it seemed likely that Alejandro G Iñárritu's Digger would have to go some way to break even. But alas, it won't even get close, as it's projected to be one of the biggest box-office flops of all time.

The environmental satire sees Tom Cruise portray the titular character, a wealthy oil tycoon whose company causes a disaster in Greenland. He's tasked with cleaning up his mess, with the safety of the world at stake.

Despite boasting a stacked supporting cast including Riz Ahmed and John Goodman, the film has flopped at the box office following its release earlier this month, only taking $8 million across its opening weekend as it debuted at #5.

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 – including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV

It hasn't fared any better since then, with sales declining by 60% in its second weekend. At the time of writing, it has grossed only $35.3 million worldwide in its first 10 days of release, making it a huge flop.

Though it's unclear what its final gross will be, films often need to make more than their production budget to break even given the cost of marketing campaigns, meaning Digger would likely need to gross over $250 million worldwide just to avoid losses.

As it stands, that total is a long way away, and pundits are predicting that Warner Bros – the distributor of the satire – could lose upwards of $245 million on the film if it carries on performing at its current pace.

This would not only make it the biggest flop of the year, but also one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time. John Carter, the sci-fi epic from Disney, is widely regarded as the biggest failure of the modern era with a rumoured loss of $265 million.

Iñárritu's film has also garnered a mixed response from critics, who have been divided by its tone and narrative. On Rotten Tomatoes, Digger currently has a middling approval rating of 53% from 319 reviews, though its audience score is higher at 74%.

Related: Robert Pattinson has said his new film Primetime is not a rebuke of TV show host Chris Hansen

In Digital Spy's three-star review, we wrote: "You can't fault its ambition. It's flawed, for sure, yet with a committed Tom Cruise at its centre, it's the kind of movie you should see to make up your own mind."

Cruise, whose performance has been widely lauded, recently spoke about the film's underperformance at the box office as he maintained that he was "proud" of the work, while Anne Hathaway described it as "brilliant".

Digger is out now in cinemas.

Visit our Streaming Guide now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.

The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of Dolly Parton's life, is here. Buy Dolly in newsagents or online.

Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.