Digger is poised to be one of the biggest box-office flops of the year
Tom Cruise-led Warner Bros. film is projected to rake in a disappointing opening weekend
Despite a major star's return to dramatic acting, a two-time best director winner at the Oscars and enough publicity to rival the moon landing, Digger looks set to become one of the biggest box-office disasters of the year.
asserted
Digger → poise → year
According to Variety, the dark comedy from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and starring Tom Cruise saw its costs balloon from an original budget of $125 million US to $160-180 million — putting a break-even return around $350 million US when including its marketing spend.
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costs → accord → spend
(Warner Bros. pushed back on this, telling Variety their actual break-even point is around $300 million US).
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point → push → Variety
It earned only $1.2 million US in previews.
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It → earn → previews
And according to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner predicts the film will only earn $12-15 million US domestically this weekend: a dismal opening for the studio in a year already littered with poor performers.
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film → accord → performers
Following their films The Bride!, Supergirl, The End of Oak Street and Practical Magic 2 all releasing to apparent losses, that string of failures will possibly be capped by one of Warner Bros.'s biggest flops of the decade.
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string → follow → decade
A bizarre story about an oil tycoon tasked with saving the world from a catastrophe his drilling caused, Digger was always a risk.
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Digger → task → catastrophe
The R-rated black comedy opted to skip the festival circuit entirely — instead operating on the hopes that strong word of mouth and big-name buzz would convince audiences to get off the couch and head to theatres.
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word → rat → theatres
The strategy of avoiding early critical negativity and gunning straight for Cruise fans made a sort of sense: it represents the actor's first non-franchise film since 2017's Barry Seal biopic American Made.
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it → avoid → biopic
And it is directed by Iñárritu: the auteur whose Birdman won best picture and director at the Oscars, while the following year's The Revenant snagged Leonardo DiCaprio his long-awaited best actor award along with another director win for Iñárritu.
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Revenant → direct → Iñárritu
But as its earliest critical responses started to release last month, a wave of negative press threatened to sink those chances.
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wave → start → chances
It has been called "the worst movie of Tom Cruise's career" by the Boston Globe, "a metafictional morass" from RogerEbert.com and "a lumbering white elephant of a movie that it almost makes you sorry for everyone involved" by the New York Times.
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you → call → Times
In response to the negative reviews, the film's producers released an ad positioning Cruise's character cursing out critics.
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producers → release → critics
But largely, even critics who loved the film — such as this writer — widely predicted that Digger would be too experimental and odd to ever hope to recoup its budget.
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Digger → love → budget
That puts Warner Bros. in a potentially difficult position; after a strong, awards-leading 2025 (including hits like Sinners, Weapons and One Battle After Another) their 2026 slate only offers modest success.
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slate → put → success
Wuthering Heights, Lee Cronin's The Mummy and Evil Dead Burn did pull off positive numbers, though not a single Warner movie has earned above $100 million US domestically this year.
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movie → pull → US
At the most extreme estimates, Digger's failure could put it into the arena with 2026's other big flops: Melania, which earned roughly $16 million US off a reported $40 million budget, and the Anthony Mackie-led Desert Warrior, which made less than $1 million US off its reported $150 million US budget, is still the biggest failure of the year.
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which → put → year
You might hate it
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You → hate → it
Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars bombs at the box office.
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Stars → bomb → office
Here's what that tells us about what audiences want
Digger could still prove valuable for Warner Bros.
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Digger → tell → what
Despite its dismal expected performance, there is still speculation on whether Cruise could be pushed to Academy Awards success in the end.
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Cruise → be → end
And given Cruise films' strong brand recognition, it could prove to be popular on streaming.
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it → give → streaming
But the failure comes as the last release before Warner Bros. is fully acquired by Paramount on Tuesday.
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release → come → Tuesday
Digger's failure also came the same weekend as the Hollywood Reporter suggested that Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy — Warner's famously director-friendly film chiefs — would not continue with the company after the merger.
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Luca → come → merger
Digger taking bold, thematic risks — and being rewarded with such poor box office returns — could bode poorly for the new conglomerate's artistic choices.
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Digger → take → choices
The Aporia
