Overview
- Digger earned roughly $8 million in the U.S. and about $20 million worldwide on its opening weekend, leaving a large gap against reported production costs that range from about $125 million to $180 million and marketing estimates near $100 million.
- Critics and early audiences were split, with review aggregates near the low 50s and a C+ CinemaScore, leaving the film with weak word‑of‑mouth that compounded the poor box office.
- Warner Bros. shifted promotion to lean into the film’s divisiveness with ads quoting opposing reviews and briefly ran an online ad that contrasted negative American reviews with more positive international ones before deleting it after social‑media backlash.
- Reporting notes that executives who greenlit Digger left during the Warner‑Paramount merger and that the movie’s financial loss is intensifying studio scrutiny of large, auteur‑driven bets and greenlighting decisions.
- Digger was shot in a large‑format process with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and received an IMAX‑first rollout, but critics say the secrecy and promotional focus on Cruise’s prosthetic look rather than the film’s premise likely hurt audience understanding and short‑term prospects for recovery.