Opening weekend and box office

Digger, written and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, opened in theaters on 30 September and earned $8 million in North America over its first weekend. Budget figures vary by source: The Independent cited $160 million, La Vanguardia put it between $120 million and $180 million, and Atlantic reported a budget of up to $180 million. Deadline gave a $20 million global start, while The Hollywood Reporter put worldwide earnings at $24.9 million as of Thursday. Warner Bros. reportedly spent $100 million on promotion. In France, the film drew 165,000 admissions in its first week, compared with 860,000 for Mission: Impossible 8 at the same stage.

Digger (first week)165,000

Mission: Impossible 8 (same stage)860,000

Digger (first week)

165000 entries

Mission: Impossible 8 (same stage)

860000 entries

Data from the article text

Critics and audience scores

Critical reception has been poor. Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter give Rotten Tomatoes approval of 52% from critics and 73% from audiences, while 20 Minutes gave the critics figure as 53%. On Letterboxd, the film holds a 3.8 out of 5 audience score from almost 350,000 users. The Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney called the film 'dead and buried, or ought to be'. Critics and audiences have diverged sharply, a gap that the box office has so far reflected.

Critics52%

Audience73%

Critics

52 %

Audience

73 %

Data from the article text

Stars come to its defence

Anne Hathaway, who recently joined Letterboxd, gave the film five stars and wrote a short review there.

“I loved this brilliant movie. It's smart and trippy and aggressive and funny and ambitious.”

Hathaway's own new film, Verity, opened against Digger and had grossed more than $70.8 million worldwide as of Thursday. Mandy Patinkin, the Homeland star, called the film an 'instant classic' in a video posted after a theater screening. In a written message he addressed the reviews directly.

“This movie being slammed by reviewers is beyond comprehension.”

Guillermo del Toro, a close friend of Iñárritu, has also defended the film on social media. After the opening, Cruise posted on Instagram according to Deadline, while The Hollywood Reporter reports the same message on X.

“The experience was truly unforgettable and I'm so proud of what we created.”

Losses and studio context

Deadline reported that the film could lose around $150 million. The Wrap, citing Skydance executives, reportedly estimated losses above $250 million. Atlantic notes that Digger is the last film Warner Bros. released before its acquisition by Paramount, a deal that closed this week. The marketing has also shifted, from celebrating Cruise to a more defensive line, with one recent ad telling viewers 'Decide for yourself'. Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga, the four-part project he directed and starred in, took in $34 million for its first installment, against more than $100 million spent on the first two films. Francis Ford Coppola put about $120 million of his own money into Megalopolis, which grossed around $12 million.

The film and what comes next

Atlantic describes Digger as a satire within a satire, in which the apocalypse story is revealed to be a play called Fossil Fools staged by a harried cast. Cruise plays both the oil tycoon Digger Rockwell and the star of the play, Curtis Markson, who is anxious about the show's ethics and a possible emergency involving his daughter. Cruise has been nominated for three acting Oscars without a win, and received an honorary Oscar in 2025. Hathaway will next star opposite Cruise in the Days of Thunder sequel at Paramount, which is set for release on June 2, 2028.