Digger’s preview numbers are in, and they’re not just soft — they’re a cold splash of reality. $1.2M across 500 screens, with no sign of momentum. That’s less than half the previews of last year’s One Battle After Another, and barely more than Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which opened to $4M after a $125M gamble. Tom Cruise’s latest, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s $160M satire, is already looking like a misfire before it even hits Friday. The studio’s quiet exit from the Paramount-Warner Bros merger talks, rumored tonight. Only adds to the unease. No one’s saying it outright, but the vibe? This isn’t a film. It’s a cautionary tale wrapped in a Cruise-sized ego. And yet, the man still has that magic. His films have made $14 billion. Even when they stumble, the library lifts again. Airlines still run his movies. But this time, the audience isn’t buying the pitch. Critics aren’t either. Verity, meanwhile, is doing what Colleen Hoover films do: selling tickets by the millions, even if the reviews are lukewarm. $4.5M in previews, $30M+ expected opening. Women are loving it. Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t care. But the box office does. Digger? It’s already behind the curve. And the question now isn’t whether it’ll open strong, it’s whether it’ll survive its first weekend.