Tom Cruise satire Digger opens to $8 million as Warner Bros. faces steep loss

Box office opening and commercial scale

Alejandro G. Iñárritu's satirical feature Digger, starring Tom Cruise, generated between $7.5 million and $8 million in North American theaters during its opening weekend. The R-rated production debuted across more than 3,300 locations on 2 October 2026, earning approximately $3.3 million to $3.4 million on its opening Friday. Warner Bros. initially greenlit the film with a $125 million production budget, though delays extended final production costs to an estimated $150 million to $180 million, alongside nearly $100 million in marketing expenditures. Studio projections indicate the theatrical release could generate total losses between $125 million and $150 million. The debut represents the lowest domestic opening weekend for Cruise as a headlining lead since the 2007 war drama Lions for Lambs, which opened at $6.7 million.

Critical reception and promotional push

Audience polling from CinemaScore assigned the release a C or C+ grade, while the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes logged a 51% approval rating from critics. Warner Bros. responded to the divided reception by incorporating negative commentary directly into its marketing campaign, juxtaposing single-word critiques like "Masterpiece" and "Unpleasant" in promotional video clips. The footage features Cruise portraying the titular character, an unrepentant oil tycoon named Digger Rockwell who triggers an environmental catastrophe. Cruise publicly addressed the film's launch on 3 October 2026, publishing behind-the-scenes photography from the set to thank the production team.

Digger is officially in theaters and I am so honored to have had the opportunity to create this film alongside such talented artists. Thank you to the entire cast and crew for your dedication, hard work, and joy. The experience was truly unforgettable and I'm so proud of what we created.

Competitive theatrical landscape

The film finished third at the domestic box office behind Amazon MGM Studios' psychological thriller Verity, which secured the top spot with $15.1 million on Friday and an estimated $33.6 million across the weekend. Directed by Michael Showalter, Verity adapts Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel with a cast led by Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, and Dakota Johnson. Sony's horror feature Resident Evil, directed by Zach Cregger and starring Austin Abrams, placed second on Friday with $3.62 million, tracking toward a $12 million weekend to bring its cumulative domestic gross to $124.395 million.

Studio transition and executive turnover

Digger marks the final theatrical title distributed by Warner Bros. as an independent studio prior to the completion of its $111 billion merger with Paramount Skydance on 6 October 2026. The underperformance follows a difficult release calendar for the studio in 2026, which included unprofitable theatrical runs for Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! and DC's Supergirl. Outgoing Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are stepping down as Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein take leadership roles under Paramount executive David Ellison. Cruise is slated to return to franchise action production with the upcoming project Days of Thunder 2.