The Tom Cruise eco-satire “Digger,” a movie that was supposed to herald the action hero’s return to serious acting, has bombed at the box office, with industry insiders predicting it could lose a quarter of a billion dollars.
After two weeks in theaters, the film has grossed just $14.4 million in North America and $35.3 million globally tiny numbers for a big-budget movie that points to cumulative losses in the region of $245 million. “This movie was never going to get a general audience to get behind it, right? “By virtue of Tom Cruise’s star power, there was a spotlight on this movie. Anything he does is going to be under a microscope.
Marketing for a movie like “Digger” can cost up to $100 million. I don’t think it was ever designed like that,” said Loria. “You’ve got arguably the biggest movie star in the world was literally everywhere for this movie,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a market analyst at Rentrak. The size of Cruise’s star in the movie firmament makes the comparison even less flattering: “Digger” was never going to be in the same ballpark as the multi-billion dollar “Mission: Impossible” franchise. But the film’s box office does align with the kind of film that Inarritu makes, said Loria.
