Warner Bros. Discovery has a very expensive box office problem this weekend. Tom Cruise’s R-rated black comedy Digger opened to just $3.4 million from 3,321 North American theaters on Friday, putting it on track for an estimated $7.5 million domestic weekend. That is a fraction of what a film of its size needs.
The arithmetic is unforgiving. According to the early returns, the project was originally greenlit at $125 million, but its final cost landed between $160 million and $180 million after production ran long. Since studios split ticket revenue with exhibitors, Digger is not simply soft — it is positioned to lose many millions in its theatrical run.
Star power did not fix the economics
Cruise’s promotional circuit was broad, including a GQ cover, a New Heights podcast appearance and a Jennifer Hudson Show segment. None of it overcame negative reviews and divided word of mouth. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the film casts Cruise as an oil tycoon whose company triggers an ecological calamity. That premise, married to an R-rating, asked a lot of a commercial audience.
The result extends a rough stretch for Warner Bros., which has already absorbed disappointing runs this year from The Bride! and Supergirl. It also underlines a familiar entertainment-marketing truth: a star can generate awareness, but it cannot reset the underlying appeal of a difficult film.
Verity shows the other side of the market
While Digger stumbled, Amazon MGM’s psycho-thriller Verity took the top spot on Friday with $15.1 million from 3,510 North American theaters. It is projected to finish the weekend with around $33.6 million domestically. Based on Colleen Hoover’s bestseller, the film stars Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson, with Michael Showalter directing. It is Hoover’s fourth book to reach theaters, following It Ends With Us, Regretting You and Reminders of Him.
For media planners, the split between the two top films is the story. A recognizable book-to-screen property with a defined audience outperformed an expensive original built around a major star. That is a data point that will shape slates and marketing budgets.
Elsewhere on the chart
- Resident Evil earned $3.62 million on Friday and is expected to add $12 million by Sunday, lifting its domestic total to $124.395 million.
- The Heart of the Beast made $3.15 million, bringing its cumulative domestic gross to $38.39 million.
- Primetime grossed $2.49 million and should take around $7.5 million for the weekend. Its opening weekend ranks as A24’s third-best behind Backrooms and Civil War; the Robert Pattinson-led drama has $28.58 million domestically so far.
Primetime, about Chris Hansen’s time on To Catch a Predator, has drawn positive reviews, but Hansen himself called the film “so bizarre and so in-and-out of reality” and “detached from reality.”
What to do about it
The weekend’s Sunday actuals will confirm whether Digger can beat its soft estimate. The operating number to track is the opening-to-budget multiple: a $7.5 million opening against a $160 million-plus final cost is a deep negative signal for profitability. Buyers should expect Warner Bros. to pull back marketing and screens quickly if the number does not improve.
The broader lesson is to model risk on economics, not on cast lists. A star is an awareness amplifier; IP with a clear audience can be a demand anchor. This weekend showed the difference in real time.
Source: Variety
