In brief
Hollywood analysts estimate Tom Cruise’s latest film Digger will lose around $245m, making it one of the biggest flops in movie history. Box‑office receipts fell 60% in its second weekend, with global takings only around $35m against a $280m combined cost and marketing spend. Despite Cruise’s remarks that his focus isn’t on opening weeks, the film’s financial performance is starkly contrasted by stars of his recent success stories such as Top Gun and the Mission: Impossible franchise. Sony‑led Warner Bros is preparing a new marketing push to mitigate damages, but the budget‑to‑gross gap suggests a loss of nine figures. The article also notes parallel struggles for Aaron Sorkin’s follow‑up, The Social Reckoning, which underperformed at the box office.
Tom Cruise's latest film Digger is expected to lose around $245m (£185m), Hollywood analysts have said, after the film's continuing poor performance at the box office.
Ticket sales for the satirical black comedy, which stars Cruise as oil magnate Digger Rockwell, dropped by around 60% in the movie's second weekend in cinemas.
It brings Digger's total box office takings so far to around $35m (£26m) globally. The film is estimated to have cost its studio Warner Bros around $280m (£211m) to make and market.
Cruise said last week that he "never thought of movies when I'm making them [in terms of] opening weekend," adding he was instead focused on making films that "hopefully will translate, last and evolve".
The film's box office takings relative to its budget mean it could become one of the biggest film flops in Hollywood history.
That would put Digger in the same bracket as other films which lost upwards of $100m, including 1995's Cutthroat Island, 2002's The Adventures of Pluto Nash, 2005's Sahara and 2012's John Carter.
Other films estimated to have lost nine‑figure sums include Mars Needs Moms (2011), Amsterdam (2022), The 13th Warrior (1999), The Marvels (2023) and Speed Racer (2008).
Digger's performance stands in sharp contrast to the success of major franchises starring Cruise in recent years, such as new instalments of Top Gun and Mission: Impossible.
Hollywood trade publication Variety said Digger was expected to end its box office run with around $50m (£38m) worldwide.
The film would need around $350m (£264m) to break even, due to its budget, marketing costs, the portion of ticket sales that go to theatres and the likely spend on an awards season campaign.
However, a Warner Bros spokesman pushed back slightly on the figure, telling Variety the film's break even point was $300m (£227m).
Digger was the last standalone release for the studio before its recent takeover by Paramount.
The film is directed by Alejandro G Iñárritu, best known for films such as Birdman, Babel and The Revenant.
Digger received generally poor reviews from critics, prompting Warner Bros to launch a new marketing campaign urging audiences to "decide for yourself".
Meanwhile, the new sequel to the Oscar‑winning hit The Social Network also struggled at the box office on its opening weekend.
The Social Reckoning took $5.5m (£4.1m) in the US, significantly lower than the $22m (£16m) its predecessor took on its opening weekend in 2010, not adjusted for inflation.
Globally, Aaron Sorkin's latest film, starring Mikey Madison, Jeremy Strong and Jeremy Allen White, took around $9m (£6.8m).
The film tells the true story of a Facebook engineer, Frances Haugan, who leaked internal documents to a reporter after becoming concerned about some of the company's practices.
The Social Reckoning was beaten in the US box office chart by horror movie Other Mommy, psychological thriller Verity, video game adaptation Resident Evil and Brad Pitt's wilderness thriller Heart of the Beast.
