Tom Cruise’s Digger just had an even worse second weekend at the box office
Tom Cruise’s Digger, from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is sinking at the box office — and, if you were wondering, the second weekend was somehow even worse.
Let's be honest, Digger was always going to be a bit of a gamble, but not many expected Tom Cruise's latest to land this hard. You know it's rough when we're talking "biggest box office flop" territory for someone with a track record like Cruise. But here we are: Alejandro G. Iñárritu directs, Cruise stars, Warner Bros. bankrolls—and after opening weekend, just about everyone is left scratching their heads (and counting their losses).
Digger opened to only $20 million worldwide—against a budget nearing $180 million.
The film was rolled out across more than 3,300 cinemas in North America and still could only manage fifth place at the US box office, scraping together a mere $8 million domestically. Considering the studio reportedly needed at least $40 million—on debut alone—to have any hope of making a profit, you can see why there's panic behind the scenes. That production budget? It started relatively "modest" at $125 million, but thanks to delays and some spendy ambitions, ballooned up to somewhere between $160 and $180 million. And that's before you add the eye-watering $100 million marketing spend. Tally it up, and Warner Bros. needed about $300 million through the door just to break even. It's safe to say, that door's not exactly being battered down.
This sort of opening hasn't been seen on Cruise's CV since Lions for Lambs back in 2007, which managed a frankly embarrassing $6.7 million on its US start. But "Digger" seems set to lose even more than just pride—the predictions out there (cheers, TheWrap) are landing in the ballpark of a $250 million shortfall, and that's not even factoring in whatever streaming or home release money might crawl in later.
The big swing, and a miss
It's worth remembering, Cruise isn't just picking up his salary on this one: he's on a first-dollar gross deal, which is Hollywood lingo for getting paid a cut of the box office takings right from the start—before the studio even gets its costs back. Not exactly a bad gig… unless the takings aren't exactly rolling in. Franchise Re's David A. Gross pointed out the big mismatch here: most "black comedies" are small, edgy affairs, not massive tentpoles starring megastars and hoovering up cash. Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian chipped in, noting that not even Cruise's global draw was enough to haul "Digger" into blockbuster territory, especially since the film wasn't built for that sort of crowd-pleasing anyway.
What's perhaps most shocking is how quickly fortunes have shifted; Cruise was coming off Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 and last year's Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, both of which were monster successes. Now, he's the face of Warner Bros.' worst box office numbers in years—and, for the record, Warner still hasn't managed a single $100 million film domestically in 2025. Given all that, "Digger" is a very odd note to go out on, as it also marks the last proper Warner Bros. release before the much-discussed Paramount/Skydance acquisition officially closes. Not much of a legacy, if we're being blunt.
No love from audiences
If you were hoping for some kind of sleeper hit effect, don't hold your breath. General punters gave Digger a C+ on CinemaScore—about as middle-of-the-road as you can get without actively annoying people. Doesn't exactly bode well for word-of-mouth to rescue this sinking ship. All in all, one for the Hollywood post-mortem bin, I suspect.