Warner Bros.' 'Digger' opened to $8 million domestically and $12 million from 74 international markets, giving Tom Cruise one of the worst debuts of his career. The film cost at least $125 million to make, with reports placing the production budget closer to $150 million and marketing estimated at another $100 million.
The studio had positioned 'Digger' as a major awards-season play, but the launch fell far short of that ambition. Warner Bros. even ran 'decide for yourself' ads after reviews were so bad that estimates for the movie were revised down over the past week.
The numbers come first. For Warner Bros., the problem is not just a weak opening weekend but a very expensive miss. 'Digger' was one of the year's biggest gambles, and its poor start comes as the studio approaches the end of its standalone run. Paramount Skydance is closing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved the $110 billion deal on Wednesday.
The weekend's top film was Amazon MGM's 'Verity,' which debuted with $32.6 million in North American theaters. 'Avengers Endgame: Encore' slid to seventh place with $4.4 million domestically and $14.4 million overseas.
Critics gave 'Digger' a 51% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and described it as a strained climate change farce, while audiences gave it a 'C+' CinemaScore. Cruise's over-the-top performance was received more warmly than the film itself.
Cruise, 64, has spent most of the last decade leading 'Mission: Impossible' films and 'Top Gun: Maverick,' both of which kept him in the top tier of action stars into his 60s. His last major box-office disappointment was 2017's 'The Mummy,' which grossed $409.2 million worldwide on a $195 million budget.
Power leaves a paper trail, and this one is easy to read. Warner Bros. took a costly swing at a politically charged original film and got a weak return instead. Capital rewards clear rules, not expensive bets that need damage control ads to move tickets.
