$8 million versus a production budget that could run as high as $180 million—that's the report card "Digger" turned in on its opening weekend, a gap so massive that the film is already being compared to cinema history's biggest flops before it's even finished its theatrical run.
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, this black satirical comedy stars Tom Cruise as oil tycoon Digger Rockwell, with a plot centered on his attempt to fix an environmental disaster he caused himself and save thousands of lives. Iñárritu, who previously won Oscars for "Birdman" and "The Revenant," is teaming up with Cruise for the first time.
According to Variety, "Digger" opened in 3,321 theaters across North America on Friday, October 2, pulling in just $8 million over its opening weekend. Overseas, it released in 73 markets and brought in only $12 million. Warner Bros. had reportedly set an internal target of at least $20 million for the opening, making the results fall well short of expectations.
A now-deleted tweet promoting the film had suggested the problem was American audiences not buying tickets, but the lackluster overseas numbers show that's not the whole story. Analyst David A. Gross told Variety: "For a black comedy, this isn't a bad number. But black comedies are usually low-budget films—this one isn't. This is a Tom Cruise movie. Comedy itself walks a fine line, and once you misstep, it can go badly wrong."
Facing the mixed reviews, Cruise responded to the audience at a screening, mentioning that he's been "incredibly successful" since he was young: "Okay, now the door's open, I want to push again." According to The Hollywood Reporter, he went on to say: "This movie was handcrafted. People want to see something real, they want a real experience. I've always wanted to make movies good enough that I'd get the chance to do it again."
In a two-star review for NME, critic Lou Thomas wrote: "As is typical of Iñárritu's work, this collaboration with Cruise is visually striking, but the result is also fairly messy. 'Digger' isn't without merit, but ultimately it's still a considerable disappointment."
