Digger’ Majorly Bombs With $8 Million Opening Weekend, ‘Verity’ Scores $32 Million Debut Box Office

Tom Cruise plays a rich oil business leader in the movie *Digger*.He thought he was ready for a big environmental disaster, but he wasn't ready for the disaster at the movie theaters.*Digger* made only $8 million from 3,321 theaters in North America.Rivals think the total might be around $7.5 million once all the numbers are added up on Monday.

The movie cost between $160 million and $180 million to make.

It's expected to be one of the worst-performing movies of the year, maybe even of all time.Warner Bros.hoped that having Tom Cruise, one of the biggest stars, and director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who made successful movies like *Birdman* and *The Revenant*, would help the movie make at least $18 million to $20 million on its first day.But even that amount would have been too little for a movie with such a big budget.Experts said the movie needed to make close to $40 million on its opening day to be worth the money.However, bad reviews and word-of-mouth made those numbers even lower.

* Digger* opened in fifth place behind another new movie, *Verity*, starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, and three older movies.

Analyst David A.Gross of Franchise Re said, “For a black comedy, the numbers are not bad.But black comedies are small films, and this isn’t a small film.It’s a Tom Cruise movie.The comedy walks a fine line, and when it misses, it misses.”

The reviews for *Digger* have been very negative.

Warner Bros.tried to deal with the bad reviews by making ads that told people to “decide for yourself.” Critics called the movie “unpleasant” and “baffling.” Another ad suggested only American viewers disliked it, but the movie also got bad reviews in other countries.It made just $12 million from 73 international markets, giving it a global opening of $20 million.

* Digger* was always a risky movie — a big budget, star-driven R-rated comedy.

Warner Bros.approved it for $125 million, but the cost went up as the production took longer.Then the studio spent another $100 million on marketing.According to some people who know similar movies, *Digger* needs to make around $350 million globally just to break even.A Warner Bros.spokesperson said the break-even point is $300 million.Either way, *Digger* is expected to lose at least $150 million to $200 million in theaters.(Theaters usually keep about half of ticket sales.)

Cruise gets a percentage of the money before the studio recoups any costs, so the studio will lose even more.

Analyst David A.Gross said, “Even with decent income from other sources like streaming and TV, the movie is going to lose a lot of money.”

* Digger* adds to a poor year for Warner Bros., which has had other bad movies like *The Bride* and *Supergirl*.

The timing has also been bad because the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros.is set to finish next week.News came out that Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, two top leaders at Warner Bros., are leaving when the merger is done on October 6.They had a great year in 2025 with hit movies like *Sinners*, *A Minecraft Movie*, and *Weapons*.But so far in 2026, none of their movies have made over $100 million in North America.

Last year, no one expected *Verity* to beat *Digger* at the box office.

*Verity*, an Amazon MGM movie based on a best-seller by Colleen Hoover, has made $32.6 million from 3,510 theaters.It is Hathaway’s third number-one opening of the year after *The Devil Wears Prada 2* and *The Odyssey*.Hathaway has also joked that she is going to take a break from acting for the rest of the year.

"Verity" made another $30 million at the international box office, which brings its total worldwide earnings to $62.5 million.