UPDATE: Things are looking ever more dire for Digger than we realized.
Deadline has published an article examining what most likely went wrong for the movie, noting that it could "stand to lose around $150M, and that’s if it’s lucky to get to a global box office of $50M."
The combination of Tom Cruise and director Alejandro González Iñárritu seemed like a safe bet for Warner Bros., and everyone involved believed that it justified a $125M production greenligiht.
“The problem is that there’s no one in Cruise’s camp to tell him ‘no,’ and what might not work,” says one source who was involved with the Mission: Impossible movies. “It used to be his producing partner Paula Wagner.”
“Everyone knows he likes to direct on the set,” adds another. “I don’t know how that worked out with Alejandro because he doesn’t take direction from anyone.”
At the end of the day, Digger wasn't kickstarting a major franchise or setting up a sequel, but its box office failure may prove to be another roadblock for original, big-budget projects being given the go-ahead at major studios.
Original article follows.
Tom Cruise is looking at his first box office bomb in quite some time with Alejandro González Iñárritu's Digger, which arrived in theaters on Friday (if you want spoilers, you can check out our breakdown here).
Though it wouldn't be fair to call the movie a critical disaster (it's sitting at 51% on Rotten Tomatoes), reviews have been mixed/negative, with one of the more positive verdicts describing the satirical black comedy as a "unique catastrophe."
Even so, many are confident that Digger will ultimately be viewed as a misunderstood masterpiece.
Positive reviews can certainly help sell tickets, but in Digger's case, it probably wouldn't have made that much of a difference.
Digger was already looking at a disastrous launch of $12 million to $15 million in North America, but ended up taking in just $8 million in the U.S. with a global debut of $20 million.
The movie had a production budget of at least $125 million, with some reports putting it at around $160 million. Digger will almost certainly become the biggest box office bomb of 2026, but some analysts believe it's in danger of becoming one of the biggest of all time.
Cruise remains proud of the film, sharing the following post to his X account.
"Digger is officially in theaters and I am so honored to have had the opportunity to create this film alongside such talented artists. Thank you to the entire cast and crew for your dedication, hard work, and joy. The experience was truly unforgettable and I’m so proud of what we created."
Digger has plenty of other high-profile defenders, including director Guillermo del Toro.
A man. A plan. A meltdown. DIGGER. Only in theaters October 2. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu returns with his original film DIGGER, starring Tom Cruise in the title role. The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.
Cruise stars alongside Oscar winner Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons. Iñárritu directed from a screenplay by Iñárritu & Oscar-winners Alexander Dinelaris & Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman, story by Berman & Iñárritu and Jez Butterworth.
The film is produced by Iñárritu, Oscar nominee Mary Parent, Cruise, and executive produced by Joshua Grode.
Joining Iñárritu behind the camera are previous collaborators Oscar-winning director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki; editors Conor O’Neill and Oscar winner Stephen Mirrione; Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West; Oscar-winning makeup and hair designer Alessandro Bertolazzi; and Oscar-nominated casting director Francine Maisler; along with Oscar- winning production designer Dennis Gassner and production designer Richard Johnson, Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro, and composer Cosmo Sheldrake.