‘Astronomical Failure’: Tom Cruise’s Digger Sinks Further at Box Office as Second-Weekend Ticket Sales Plunge 60%

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood’s most dependable box office titan has suffered the worst commercial disaster of his 40-year career, as Tom Cruise’s offbeat dark comedy Digger collapsed during its second weekend in cinemas.

Directed by Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, the environmental satire tumbled by 60% in North America over the weekend to collect a paltry $3.2 million (£2.4 million), bringing its domestic running total to just $14.4 million. Overseas markets offered no relief, generating just $6.4 million to bring the film's global tally to $35.3 million.

Trade analysts now project that Warner Bros. is facing an eye-watering theatrical loss of up to $245 million (£187 million), placing Digger firmly among the most expensive box office flops in cinema history.

Losing IMAX Screens to The Odyssey

The film's second-week decline was exacerbated when exhibitors pulled Digger from premium large-format screens following its disastrous $8 million domestic debut.

Warner Bros. surrendered its IMAX real estate to re-issue Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Odyssey, which promptly saw a 54% box office surge as audiences returned to fill 70mm screenings instead.

The commercial freefall comes despite an unconventional "Decide for Yourself" marketing campaign launched by Warner Bros., as well as public praise from Hollywood figures including Guillermo del Toro, Anne Hathaway, and Jane Fonda, who attempted to rally moviegoers online.

The production, which reportedly cost $170 million (£130 million) to produce alongside a $100 million promotional budget, features Cruise uncharacteristically buried beneath heavy prosthetics as a paunchy, balding oil magnate.

"The film delivers in scale, ambition and reach... daring, bold and cinematically complex," Guillermo del Toro posted in defense of the movie on social media, condemning negative criticism.

However, general audiences have overwhelmingly rejected the premise, leaving theaters across the US and Europe largely empty.

A Rare Misstep for Warner Bros. and Cruise

For Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who personally greenlit the project as part of a high-profile multi-picture deal with Cruise, the loss is particularly painful because the studio fully financed the venture without co-financing partners to share the risk.

For Cruise, 64, the outcome represents an abrupt departure from a 15-year streak of global blockbusters led by the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun franchises.

Sources close to the actor indicate he remains unfazed by the commercial reception, emphasizing to associates that he measures the success of artistic collaborations like Iñárritu’s by their long-term cultural legacy rather than opening weekend figures.

Pivoting to Days of Thunder 2

With Digger expected to exit top-ten chart rankings quickly and transition toward an accelerated premium video-on-demand (PVOD) window, studio attention has already shifted to Cruise’s upcoming slate.

The actor is slated to begin pre-production next year on Days of Thunder 2 at Paramount, reuniting him with classic high-octane action cinema alongside co-star Anne Hathaway.