Digger may not even cross $10 million in North America on opening weekend, a 19-year low for Tom Cruise, according to current trade estimates. Digger box office collection: Tom Cruise ’s Digger is turning out to be one of the biggest box office disappointments of the year. The film has been hit by the negative reviews that arrived even before it hit the screens, with its admissions breaking a dubious record for the superstar.
Digger earned just $3.4 million on its opening day in the US and Canada. It not only lost to Anne Hathaway’s Verity (which opened at over $15 million), but also failed to beat Resident Evil, an old release with no big star and a smaller budget. Digger did not do much in international territories either, earning just $4 million overseas, including a dismal showing in India, which is usually a big market for Tom Cruise films. Digger earned just ₹ 65 lakh net in India on its opening day. In comparison, the actor’s last film opened at ₹ 19 crore in the country. Trade estimates have put Digger’s weekend earnings in North America at around $8 million. This is the first Tom Cruise film since 2007 that will fail to cross $10 million in its opening weekend. Tom’s previous film – Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning – had earned $79 million in its opening weekend. The other new release of the week, Anne Hathaway and Dacota Johnson’s Verity, has outearned Digger by 4x, earning $33 million over the weekend. The last film to do worse for Tom Cruise was the 2007 war drama, Lions for Lambs, which opened at $6.7 million. However, it was a low-budget drama, made for just $35 million, and it still recouped its budget. Digger, on the other hand, has a reported production budget of $125 million. Warner Bros. claim the film needs to earn $300 million to recoup its costs, a figure that now looks very far away for the Alejandro Inarritu film.
This has been chalked up to the not-so-rave reviews Digger received upon its release. Many critics have called the film a ‘misfire’, which has generated negative word of mouth, dimming the buzz. Directed by Alejandro Inarritu, Digger is a dark comedy-satire centred on an oil tycoon who needs to convince the world that only he can save everyone from a natural disaster he himself created. The film also stars Jesse Plemons, Sandra Hüller and Riz Ahmed, among others. Tom Cruise has received praise for his performance in the film.
