Tom Cruise‘s new film Digger opened to $8 million in North America this weekend, and the Digger box office result could leave Warner Bros with a loss of around $150 million. According to Deadline, the satire took $20 million worldwide in its first weekend and drew a C+ CinemaScore from audiences.
That debut is the lowest opening for Cruise in 19 years. Deadline’s sources put the net production budget at about $160 million after UK tax credits, with close to $100 million more spent on global theatrical marketing. Even if Digger reaches $50 million worldwide, the studio still expects to lose roughly $148 million on the film.
How Digger got made
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu first developed the project at Netflix under a different title, and Leonardo DiCaprio was circling the lead at one point. After Netflix released Adam McKay’s environmental satire Don’t Look Up, Iñárritu took the idea to producer Mary Parent at Legendary. There, he reworked it with Cruise in mind.
In 2024, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav sent film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to sign a non-exclusive deal with Cruise. Digger was the first project under that pact. Warner bought out Legendary’s development costs and approved a $125 million production. The budget then climbed to around $160 million as the shoot at Leavesden in the UK ran long.
The story follows an oil tycoon whose ice cap project misfires and sets off a global environmental disaster. Cruise plays the lead under heavy makeup as an older, balding Texan, and the marketing leaned hard on that look.
Why the Digger box office opening fell short
NRG tracking three weeks before release pointed to an opening of $17 million to $23 million. Reviews then came in split, and the film currently sits at 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. Social analytics firm RelishMix saw online sentiment drop from 8.1 out of 10 in mid-September to 6.4 just before release.
RelishMix said viewers liked the idea of Cruise in the role but distrusted the execution. One comment it quoted read: “Impressive that after a nearly three-minute long trailer, I still don’t really know what this movie’s about.”
Iñárritu has described Digger as a love letter to younger viewers. Audiences aged 18 to 34 did make up 60% of opening weekend ticket buyers, but there were not enough of them to lift the total.
Deadline compares the film with two other expensive fall releases that opened in single digits. The Smashing Machine finished at $21.1 million worldwide on a $50 million budget, while Amsterdam ended at $31.2 million against an $80 million budget.
Bad timing for Warner’s film leadership
The flop lands as De Luca and Abdy leave their posts. Skydance co-CEO David Ellison declined to keep the pair on after the Paramount and Warner Bros merger. Under their watch, Warner grossed $4.3 billion globally in 2025, its best year since 2019, and won 11 Oscars.
Meanwhile, the combined studio inherits a slate of 38 Warner films dated into 2029. That list includes Minecraft 2, the sequel to the near billion-dollar hit A Minecraft Movie, as well as Gremlins and Ocean’s Eleven projects. Warner Bros did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment.