Tom Cruise has spent the past few years reminding Hollywood that his name can still turn a theatrical release into an event. Digger, however, has delivered a dramatically different result. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s big-budget satire opened to an estimated $8 million from 3,321 theaters in North America, finishing fifth over the October 2-4 weekend.
The international market did little to change the picture. Digger added approximately $12 million overseas, putting its worldwide opening at roughly $20 million. Meanwhile, Amazon MGM’s Verity, starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, took first place with $32.6 million domestically and $62.6 million worldwide.
For almost any expensive studio release, those numbers would be concerning. For a Tom Cruise movie carrying one of the year’s largest reported budgets, they are disastrous.
The $8 million opening looks even worse beside Digger’s budget
There is some disagreement over exactly how much Digger cost.
The Associated Press places the production budget between $125 million and $150 million, while Variety reports a considerably higher $160 million to $180 million range. AP also reports that roughly another $100 million was spent on marketing. Warner Bros. has not publicly confirmed a definitive all-in cost.
Even using the lowest reported production estimate, however, an $8 million domestic debut represents only about 6.4% of the film’s $125 million production cost. Against a $180 million estimate, it is roughly 4.4%.
Opening weekend gross should not be compared directly with a movie’s budget as if every ticket dollar returns to the studio, but the calculation illustrates the scale of the problem. Theaters retain part of ticket revenue, and a film this expensive typically needs significant theatrical revenue before ancillary income can begin improving its overall economics.
Variety reports that Warner Bros. had hoped Cruise and Iñárritu would push the movie toward at least an $18 million-$20 million domestic launch. The actual estimate therefore came in at less than half the upper end of those expectations.
Calling Digger a financial failure after one weekend may normally be premature. In this case, however, the combination of its enormous cost, weak domestic start and modest $20 million worldwide launch leaves an unusually steep recovery ahead.
Tom Cruise hasn’t opened this low since 2007
The result also breaks Cruise’s remarkable recent theatrical run.
Digger is his weakest domestic opening since Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs debuted with approximately $6.7 million in November 2007.
The contrast with Cruise’s recent releases is striking. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opened to $64 million domestically in 2025, while Top Gun: Maverick began with $126.7 million in 2022.
There is an obvious difference: Digger is not another Ethan Hunt adventure or a decades-in-the-making Top Gun sequel. It is an original, unconventional dark comedy from Iñárritu in which Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a hugely powerful man desperately trying to save humanity from a catastrophe he helped unleash. Warner Bros.’ official synopsis describes Rockwell as “the most powerful man in the world” attempting to prove he is humanity’s savior.
That made the movie an interesting test of whether Cruise’s theatrical drawing power could carry an expensive original film without an established franchise behind him.
At least on opening weekend, the answer was no.
Mixed reactions give Digger another problem
The film now needs unusually strong staying power, but its initial audience response does not provide much evidence of that happening.
Digger received a C+ CinemaScore, while PostTrak registered a 47% “definite recommend” score, according to TheWrap.
Cruise, meanwhile, has publicly stood behind the movie. After its release, he thanked the cast and crew and wrote: “The experience was truly unforgettable and I’m so proud of what we created.”
That comment is notable because Digger represents precisely the kind of risky project Hollywood is often accused of avoiding: an expensive, filmmaker-driven original starring one of the industry’s biggest names rather than another sequel or adaptation.
Its commercial performance therefore matters beyond simply adding an unusual flop to Cruise’s filmography. If the final theatrical run remains anywhere close to what its opening suggests, studios may take Digger as another warning about attaching blockbuster-sized budgets to challenging original films — even when Tom Cruise and an Oscar-winning director are attached.
The next weekend will show whether curiosity and conversation can give Digger any meaningful hold. But with just $8 million domestically and around $20 million worldwide out of the gate, the movie is starting from a hole that even Cruise may struggle to climb out of.
