Why Tom Cruise's Digger Bombed At The Box Office

Even though it's an original movie, "Digger" still prominently showcases Tom Cruise, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, in all of its marketing. It even has two-time Academy Award winner for best director Alejandro G. Iñárritu calling the shots behind the camera. So why did "Digger" bow to a pathetic $8 million its opening weekend, leading the way to become one of the biggest box office bombs of 2026? For the full breakdown on this box office catastrophe, watch Looper's video above.

To be fair, "Digger" always had an uphill battle. The reported budget for the film, which follows oil magnate Digger Rockwell (Cruise) causing an environmental disaster, was in the range of $160 to $180 million. That's the kind of budget you see for a lot of superhero movies, and those at least have name-brand recognition. "Digger" effectively had to market itself as "Tom Cruise: The Movie," and that only gets you so far.

It certainly didn't help matters that critic reviews were extremely divided. Opinions were all over the place, with some calling it a misunderstood masterpiece while others thought it was the bane of both Cruise and Iñárritu's careers. Looper's review for "Digger" fell in the middle, calling it an "ambitious but frustrating mess." And who wants to see a movie where you're unsure if you'll see perfection or a dumpster fire? All of this adds up to an indifferent audience with other options.

The big winner for the October 2 weekend was "Verity" starring Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway. The twisty, sexy thriller grabbed $32.6 million, and with holdovers like "Resident Evil," "Heart of the Beast," and "Primetime," there was plenty for audiences without "Digger."

"Verity" also didn't get great reviews, but at least people knew what they were getting going into with it. "Digger" intentionally kept things tightly under guard. People knew they'd see a very different type of Tom Cruise. Rather than running on rooftops and dismantling bombs, this Cruise adorns old-man makeup while manipulating a catastrophe to his own advantage. People may have known it was an environmental satire, but the advertising for "Digger" went to great lengths to hide one massive twist that ruined the movie for many. 

Eventually, the film leaned into the divisiveness, with many of the ads coming out opening weekend focusing on the polarizing opinions. It's a bold strategy but clearly didn't work all that well, especially since those ads came out when the film was already in theaters. 

"Digger" is a big swing you can't help but respect. And astonishingly, audiences seem to like "Digger" more than critics if Rotten Tomatoes scores are any indication. Could positive word of mouth help? Perhaps. Nevertheless, we're still fascinated by all the ways the "Digger" marketing went wrong, which you can examine further in Looper's above video.