The Alejandro González Iñárritu‑directed satire opens on Oct 2 with a Rotten Tomatoes rating hovering around 51 percent, and analysts warn Warner Bros of a potential six‑figure deficit.
Tom Cruise returns to the big screen this weekend with Digger, a darkly comic take on humanity’s last‑ditch rescue mission. The film, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, lands in theatres on October 2, but the excitement is already being eclipsed by grim box‑office math.
Koimoi notes that the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score slipped from an initial 41 percent to just 51 percent, making it the lowest‑rated Iñárritu effort to date. The site’s rating, while still a snapshot, signals a lukewarm critical consensus that could dampen audience enthusiasm.
Industry trackers, also cited by Koimoi, estimate the North American opening to fall short of $15 million. With a production budget hovering around $125 million, the shortfall translates into a projected loss that could top $100 million for Warner Bros. Pictures – a blow that would deepen a year already littered with underperformers such as Supergirl and The End of Oak Street.
The ensemble cast, featuring Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons, has not been enough to offset the negative buzz. Even Cruise’s star power, historically a reliable draw, appears insufficient to pull the numbers into safe territory.
The premise follows the world’s most powerful figure racing against a self‑inflicted catastrophe, a narrative that could have resonated with audiences hungry for high‑stakes drama. Instead, the satirical tone and bleak humor seem to have alienated a sizable segment of the market, according to the same Koimoi report.
If the opening weekend does land below the $15 million mark, the film will join a growing list of recent Hollywood misfires that struggled to find footing in the post‑pandemic landscape. Warner Bros, already grappling with a string of flops, may need to reassess its release strategy for the remainder of the fiscal year.
For now, the only certainty is the date: October 2. Whether Digger can rally a second‑week surge or become a cautionary tale for big‑budget comedies remains to be seen. The next box‑office report, due early next week, will reveal if the projections hold or if the film somehow defies the odds.
Until then, fans of Cruise and Iñárritu will have to decide whether the curiosity of seeing the director’s lowest‑rated work outweighs the risk of a disappointing night at the movies.
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