Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Already a member?
Log in
Tom Cruise’s black comedy Digger has had a dismal first weekend at the box office.
The movie, starring Cruise as a powerful oil tycoon bracing for an environmental disaster, made just $8 million from 3,321 North American theaters across the weekend by Sunday morning, according to Variety.
By comparison, the movie had a production budget of $160 to $180 million.
It had been projected to make $18 million to $20 million at opening weekend, but box office experts told the outlet that a movie of this size needed to debut nearer $40 million to justify the price tag.
The movie, from Birdman director Alejandro Iñárritu, debuted in fifth place in the box office rankings this weekend, behind Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson’s psychological thriller Coleen Hoover book adaptation Verity, which debuted to an estimated $33 million, according to The New York Times. The movie also received weak reviews.
Warner Bros has struggled to gross more than $100 million domestically for each of its 2026 releases so far, and Supergirl and The Bride both produced big losses for the studio.
Digger has also been subject to mixed reviews across the board. The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey awarded the film two stars, writing that it “sold on the promise that Cruise here is a revelation” but it largely falls flat.
“There’s no real inversion to speak of, merely a return to the kind of work he did (over two decades ago!) before his blockbuster action streak,” she writes.
In an early reaction to the film, The Independent’s Jacob Stolworthy said that Digger took a “big swing that grabbed my attention in a big way”.
“Digger is the kind of film that exists entirely on its own merits, and almost dares the audience to dislike it,” he said.
Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote that Digger “isn’t funny. It’s nervy, in your face, adventurous, and bizarro in a free-swinging, out-of-the-box way.”
Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri called it “a torturous experience”.
The movie has scored 51 percent on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.1 out of 10. Among the site’s Top Critics, the score is lower at 33 percent.
Cruise stars as Digger Rockwell, a politically powerful and rich oil tycoon whose drilling operation sets off a catastrophic environmental disaster.
When a large piece of ice breaks away from Greenland, Digger finds himself trying to convince the world that he can save it from the crisis he helped create.
The cast includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons.
