Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger was shaping up to be one of the most anticipated movies of the year, with Tom Cruise as we’d never seen him before, but the film has become a highly divisive box office bomb. In fact, Digger is looking to cost Warner Bros. (which is moving ahead with its Paramount merger) a considerable sum.
Multiple sources have told Deadline that Digger could lose around $150 million when all is said and done. And that’s if it manages to reach $50 million. The film opened last week and has so far grossed… $20 million worldwide. That’s on a budget that landed somewhere between $125 – $180 million. Not great.
The film stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, the most powerful man in the world, who races to prove he is humanity’s saviour before the disaster he unleashed destroys everything. It also stars Sandra Hüller (Project Hail Mary), Jesse Plemons (Bugonia), John Goodman (The Connors), Riz Ahmed (The Phoenician Scheme), Michael Stuhlbarg (After the Hunt), Sophie Wilde (Babygirl), Emma D’Arcy (House of the Dragon), Robert John Burke (Robocop 3), Burn Gorman (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), and Pip Torrens (Preacher).
Although Digger seemed poised to be one of the bigger box office bombs of the year, I do think it will become a cult classic. I suppose time will tell. And the film certainly has its defenders.
In his review, our own Chris Bumbray said the film “is highly experimental, to the point that it will alienate and turn off mainstream viewers—yet it might come to be regarded as an incredibly bold piece of filmmaking further down the line.” He added that it’s a “hard film to explain to anyone who hasn’t seen it. It also defies easy classification. Does it always work? No. It’s being billed as a comedy, but I didn’t laugh once. Yet it cries out to be seen and features elements—namely Cruise’s performance—that are nothing short of masterful. It gives you a lot to chew on and doesn’t always work, but it’s nonetheless a must-see, even if I wouldn’t blame anyone reading this for hating it.”
You can check out the rest of his review right here, and be sure to let us know what you thought of Digger as well!