Overview
- Digger opened this weekend to a roughly $3.3 million Friday and an estimated $8 million three-day domestic total, a start that industry outlets call Cruise’s weakest since 2007.
- Critical and audience reaction is split, with about a 51 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a C+/C- CinemaScore that signals mixed word of mouth.
- Reports say production costs climbed from a stated $125 million toward $160–180 million, which industry analysts say would push the film’s break-even into the high hundreds of millions when marketing is counted, a figure Warner Bros. disputes.
- Tom Cruise publicly defended the movie on social media and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has praised it, while Warner’s marketing has leaned into the polarization by running ads that highlight both praise and attacks on critics.
- The film’s performance matters beyond one title because it is a large-format theatrical gamble released as Warner Bros. faces executive turnover and a pending merger, and its weak launch complicates awards hopes and future studio risk-taking.