Digger opens with $1.2 million in previews — just enough to whisper, not shout. Tom Cruise’s latest, a satirical deep-dive into an oil baron who accidentally triggers ecological collapse, lands in 3,300 North American theatres this Friday, but the momentum feels less like a launch and more like a test run. Warner Bros. Is betting on awards season legs, though the film’s 52% Rotten Tomatoes score and David Rooney’s verdict, ‘a worn-down shrug’. Don’t exactly inspire confidence. The studio’s own leadership is in flux: Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are stepping down ahead of Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion merger, expected to close October 6. Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein will take over the film side, inheriting a slate that includes both triumphs (One Battle After Another, Sinners) and stumbles (The Bride!, Supergirl). Digger, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is meant to be a return to form, a bold pivot from action franchises toward something more personal, even if it now reads as a misfire. Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller co-star, but the film’s ambition seems to have outpaced its execution. Critics aren’t kind. One called it a ‘hate letter to life, cinema, art, and its own audience.’ Another asked if it was AI-generated. No, just deeply flawed. Meanwhile, Amazon MGM’s Verity is set to dominate the weekend. With $4.5 million in previews, it’s projected for a $27–30 million opening. Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel, it stars Anne Hathaway as a reclusive author and Dakota Johnson as her ghostwriter. But even that isn’t safe, the film holds a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score. Richard Lawson wrote it ‘plummets past so-bad-it’s-good and crashes on the rocks of agonizingly dumb.’ So here we are: two high-profile releases, one struggling under self-inflicted weight, the other riding a wave of dread. And Hollywood? Still trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. The next move belongs to the audience. They’ll decide whether Digger is a reckoning or just another misstep.