Digger starring Tom Cruise is shaping up as one of the most expensive box office missteps in recent Hollywood memory. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s R-rated climate satire opened to $8 million in North America on its first weekend, Oct. 2 through Oct. 4, 2026, and the loss projections that followed range from $150 million to as much as $250 million, depending on who is doing the math and what they count.
The ticket sales are reported grosses. The budget and the losses are estimates from people inside and around the business, and Warner Bros. has not published a cost or a loss figure. Here’s what’s on the record, and what is still a projection.
What the Box Office Shows
According to Box Office Mojo, Digger opened in 3,321 North American theaters and took in $8,001,856 over its debut weekend. Through Wednesday, Oct. 7, its domestic total stood at $10,647,691. With $14.3 million from international markets, the worldwide total was $24,947,691.
That opening landed well short of the $12 million to $15 million projected heading into the weekend, Variety reported, and far from the roughly $40 million domestic debut that, per the same report, box office experts say a film of this size would need to justify its price tag.
Audiences did not rescue it. The film opened with a “C+” grade from CinemaScore exit polls and a 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Overseas, where Cruise’s films usually earn most of their money, Digger brought in about $12 million from 73 markets on its first weekend. The daily numbers show the slide: $3.49 million on opening Friday, $1.85 million on Sunday, and $731,316 on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
What the Movie Reportedly Cost
No official budget has been released, and the reported figures vary. Variety’s Rebecca Rubin put the production budget at $160 million to $180 million, with Warner Bros. spending about $100 million more on marketing. In an exclusive report on Oct. 7, TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman and Adam Chitwood, citing multiple insiders, put the budget at $173 million, a figure they said included costs from a problem with Cruise’s prosthetics (covered by insurance) and a $25 million overage tied to delays while Cruise finished his last Mission: Impossible film. Another insider put the final budget at $163 million.
The same report said Warner Bros. fully financed the film, without an outside partner to share the loss, and that most of the roughly $100 million marketing spend went to Cruise’s global press tour. Those are sourced reports, not studio disclosures.
How Big the Loss Could Get
The loss figures depend on what is being counted. Rubin’s estimate is theatrical only: using the cost figures above, executives with knowledge of similar films put the global break-even point at about $350 million. A studio spokesperson pushed back and said the break-even point is $300 million. With the film nowhere near either number, Rubin wrote that it is primed to lose at least $150 million to $200 million theatrically.
Tom Cruise in Digger – Warner Bros.
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Waxman and Chitwood’s number is bigger and wider in scope. They reported that Digger is poised to lose $250 million by the end of its run even after post-theatrical revenue, up from earlier reports of about $125 million, and that insiders at Skydance do not expect it to pass $40 million worldwide. A second person familiar with the budget told them the loss is more likely $200 million to $215 million, depending on premium video on demand. A Warner Bros. representative had no comment. Until a studio reports the results, every one of these figures should be read as a projection.
A Costly Welcome for Skydance
The timing makes the flop more awkward. Digger was the last standalone Warner Bros. release before the studio became part of David Ellison’s newly merged Skydance, and Waxman and Chitwood reported that Skydance executives were shocked by the size of the loss when the company was handed over this week. Ellison has already dismissed Warner film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who backed the film, and put Paramount’s Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein in charge of film output for both studios.
Cruise, for his part, has said he does not make movies for their first weekend. “When I am making [movies], I’m not going, ‘Opening weekend!’ I feel very much like we’re going to make something that is a lasting piece of cinema,” he said on the On Film With Kevin McCarthy podcast, released the day Digger opened. He will get another shot under the new owners with Days of Thunder 2, which is set to start production for Paramount next year, according to the same Oct. 7 report.
Did Digger deserve a bigger audience, or was a $160 million-plus climate satire always a tough sell, even with Tom Cruise? Sound off and let us know!
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