Even a Tom Cruise-packed, all-pause press tour that included a GQ cover, a “New Heights” podcast appearance and a “Risky Business”-inspired trip through the “Jennifer Hudson Show” soul tunnel couldn’t keep “Digger” from failing at the box office.
Warner Bros.’ The R-rated dark comedy grossed $3.4 million from 3,321 North American theaters on Friday, following a barrage of negative reviews and divided word-of-mouth. The film is poised to be one of the biggest flops of the year, earning just $7.5 million domestically in its opening weekend. According to knowledgeable sources, the film was greenlit for $125 million, but after production took a long time, the price was increased to $160 and 180 million. That’s a problem because the studio splits ticket sales with theater owners, meaning “Digger” stands to lose millions at the theater.
Directed by Academy Award winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Digger” stars Cruise as a powerful oil tycoon whose company leads to an ecological disaster. Despite Cruise’s enduring star power, “Digger” will be the latest failure for Warner Bros., which includes recent blockbusters like the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and 2022 sensation “Top Gun: Maverick.” This year, the studio produced Maggie Gyllenhaal’s punk rock “The Bride!” It has been plagued by a series of fiascos, including. and DC’s comic book adaptation of “Supergirl.”
Amazon MGM’s psycho-thriller “Verity” topped Friday with $15.1 million from 3,510 North American theaters as general audiences rejected “Digger.” The film is expected to gross $33.6 million domestically over the weekend.
Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book of the same name, “Verity” centers on acclaimed author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), who is severely injured in a car accident and recruits a struggling author (Dakota Johnson) to help her husband (Josh Hartnett) finish the remaining books. Michael Showalter directed. This is Hoover’s fourth novel to hit the big screen, following 2024’s “It Ends with Us” (Sony), 2025’s “Regrets of You” (Paramount) and 2026’s “Reminders of Him” (Universal).
Zach Cregger’s zombie horror movie “Resident Evil” ranked second with $3.62 million on Friday. The Sony film, which stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier who must battle a zombie outbreak while making a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital, looks set to add $12 million through Sunday, bringing its domestic total to $124.395 million.
Following “Digger’s” third-place finish, Paramount Pictures’ “The Heart of the Beast” followed with $3.15 million, bringing its cumulative gross to $38.39 million. The Brad Pitt-led adventure film was directed by David Ayer and stars the actor as a retired veteran who embarks on a 38-mile trek to safety after he and his fighting dog survive a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness.
Finally, in fifth place was A24’s “Primetime”. The film grossed $2.49 million on Friday and is expected to make another $7.5 million by Sunday. The film’s opening weekend was the third-best for A24, behind “Backrooms” ($81.4 million) and “Civil War” ($25.5 million), and the Robert Pattinson-led drama has grossed $28.58 million domestically so far.
“Primetime” chronicles Chris Hansen’s time as host of Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator.” While the film has received positive reviews and word-of-mouth since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, the real-life Hansen was less than complimentary ahead of the film’s release; After watching the film, Hansen described it as “very strange and in and out of reality” and “disconnected from reality.”