‘Digger’ bombs: A rare box-office misfire for Tom Cruise
That’s a phrase Hollywood’s global cinematic icon and producer Tom Cruise isn’t likely to hear often. But this past weekend, what many consider Hollywood’s biggest movie star in history suffered one of the worst debuts of his career. The painful performance at the box office of the dark comedy "Digger" was one for the headlines.
Cruise earned legendary praise for keeping Paramount’s "Top Gun: Maverick" out of streaming services during the pandemic, forcing a theatrical-only release that grossed $1.5 billion worldwide, and has long been viewed as the studio’s "golden boy," anchoring multibillion-dollar intellectual properties and protecting the traditional theatrical experience.
Tom Cruise looks unrecognizable in "Digger" trailer. (Getty Images; Warner Bros. Pictures)
The Alejandro G. Iñárritu-directed "Digger," however, delivered a disappointing farewell note for Warner Bros. as a standalone studio.
It grossed only $8 million domestically and $12 million internationally, where Cruise is ordinarily a big draw. That’s despite the film reportedly costing between $125 million and $150 million to make, with marketing expenses estimated at $100 million.
"Given his extraordinary history with Paramount, the timing certainly adds an interesting layer to the story, but one movie doesn’t erase decades of success or the value he brings to a studio," Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for global media measurement and data analytics company Rentrak, told Fox News Digital. "There are lessons to be learned from ‘Digger,’ particularly around budget, positioning and expectations, but I don’t see this changing the fact that studios will continue to want to work with him."
Meanwhile, the weekend’s No. 1 box office draw, debuting with $32.6 million, went to Amazon MGM’s erotic psychological thriller "Verity," directed by Michael Showalter and starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett. The film’s strong showing extends a winning streak for adaptations of author Colleen Hoover’s work at the box office.
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Tom Cruise and Alejandro González Iñárritu attend Warner Bros. "The Big Picture" CinemaCon 2026 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 14, 2026. (David Jon/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures)
Following "Verity," Zach Cregger’s video game adaptation "Resident Evil" came in second for Sony Pictures with $12.5 million, while Paramount’s "Heart of the Beast," starring Brad Pitt as a former special forces soldier trapped in the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog, grossed $11 million. That was followed by director Lance Oppenheim’s "Primetime" and "Digger."
In the case of "Digger," critics weren’t especially kind, with the film earning a 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Cruise pulled out all the stops, giving a rare one-on-one interview with GQ magazine as part of the promotional campaign for the climate satire.
The film’s London premiere on Sept. 22 at the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square brought out Prince William and Princess Catherine, as the event also served as this year’s royal charity screening benefiting the UK’s Film and TV Charity. While Cruise welcomed the two on the red carpet, David Beckham also made an appearance with his two sons, Cruz and Romeo.
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Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Tom Cruise attend the "Digger" world premiere and Royal Film Performance in London, England, on Sept. 22, 2026. (Getty Images for Warner Bros.)
The underwhelming opening comes as Paramount Skydance closes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion deal.
Despite "Digger’s" poor showing, Dergarabedian said it won’t ultimately affect Cruise as a Hollywood powerhouse.
"I think the interesting thing here is that the result really doesn’t change the fundamental reality that every studio wants to be in the Tom Cruise business," he said. "‘Digger’ was always a much tougher commercial proposition than the kind of broad, action-driven, franchise-oriented films audiences traditionally associate with Cruise."
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"The challenge was that having Tom Cruise as the star didn’t automatically make it a Tom Cruise blockbuster, nor was the movie necessarily designed to be one," Dergarabedian added.
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