Moviegoers aren't digging into "Digger."
The new Tom Cruise movie, the star's first film outside of the action genre in almost a decade, has flopped in a major way at the box office. In North American theaters, "Digger" grossed just $8 million this weekend, according to studio estimates released by Rentrak on Sunday, Oct. 4.
That's an abysmal start for a big-budget movie led by an A-list star, putting the film at No. 5 for the weekend behind older releases like "Resident Evil" and "Primetime." "Digger" was made on a $125 million budget, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Variety estimates the final cost at $160 million to $180 million, though Warner Bros. disputes the higher figure.
"Verity," a thriller starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson
and Josh Hartnett, had a much better go of it in theaters. The movie, based on the Colleen Hoover novel, opened at No. 1 with a solid $32.6 million debut. In terms of movies based on Hoover's books, that's lower than the $50 million start for "It Ends With Us," but higher than the openings of "Reminders of Him" ($18 million) and "Regretting You" ($13.7 million).
For Cruise, "Digger" is the actor's worst opening weekend at the box office in years. By comparison, even 2017's "The Mummy," which performed poorly enough that it ended plans for a shared Universal Monsters franchise, still opened to $31 million.
The disaster movie satire "Digger," from "Birdman" and "The Revenant" director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, sees Cruise turn in a transformative performance as aging oil tycoon Digger Rockwell. The project marked Cruise's first movie that isn't an action blockbuster since 2017's "American Made," and it appeared to signal a pivot into more dramatic acting for the star after the end of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.
"Digger" had sparked Oscar buzz for Cruise leading up to its release. But the combination of the poor box office performance and mixed reviews could complicate the "Top Gun" star's campaign for his first competitive Academy Award.
"Digger" also ends an era for Warner Bros. on a sour note: It is set to be the last film released by the studio before its merger with Paramount Skydance.
Even prior to "Digger," Cruise had already lined up a project that could be more of a surefire hit and allow him to bounce back: "Days of Thunder 2," which is scheduled for a summer 2028 release. His co-star in the film will be Hathaway, whose "Verity" caps off an epic year that saw her lead five new releases, including "Mother Mary," "The Devil Wears Prada 2," "The Odyssey" and "The End of Oak Street." To date, "The Odyssey" is the No. 2 highest-grossing film of the year worldwide.
Meanwhile, "Avengers: Endgame" is once again the king of the box office world. According to Disney, the Marvel blockbuster's "Encore" re-release has brought its worldwide haul to $2.9255 billion. That means it has surpassed "Avatar" to become the highest-grossing movie of all time globally, not adjusted for inflation. "Endgame" previously held that title for about two years, from 2019 until "Avatar" reclaimed the record with its own 2021 re-release.
Contributing: Brian Truitt
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Cruise's 'Digger' flops at box office with shockingly poor debut
