Tom Cruise’s Digger has flopped at the box office, opening to just $8 million domestically and becoming 2026’s biggest theatrical disaster. The result is a brutal turn for a film that arrived with Alejandro González Iñárritu behind the camera and an Oscar-caliber cast around Cruise. Expectations were high for Iñárritu’s first film since Bardo, particularly with Cruise stepping away from the safety net of Ethan Hunt.

That combination made Digger look like one of Hollywood’s more intriguing swings. Cruise brought the movie-star wattage, while Iñárritu promised the kind of strange, awards-friendly material that can turn a prestige gamble into an event. Instead, the film has landed with a box-office thud.

Digger opened with approximately $8 million domestically against a reported budget of $160 million to $180 million, a staggering mismatch for an original R-rated satire. Deadline reports that the opening is Cruise’s lowest since 2007’s Lions for Lambs, which debuted to roughly $6.7 million. That is particularly painful because the movie was not merely expensive. 

Deadline also reported before release that the film had initially been tracking considerably higher before its projections deteriorated as reviews and audience reaction arrived. It was positioned as a major auteur-driven event, with Warner Bros. backing Iñárritu, Cruise, and an ensemble featuring Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons. The film also earned only a C+ CinemaScore, while Rotten Tomatoes currently has it at 51% from critics and 71% from verified audiences.

Guillermo del Toro Slams ‘Digger’ Criticism, Calls Review "Petty"

And now Cruise has taken his biggest commercial risk away from the franchise machinery entirely. Digger is his first non-franchise starring vehicle since 2017’s American Made, making this result more revealing than another disappointing franchise sequel.

The movie itself was always going to be an acquired taste. Tom Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an enormously wealthy oil tycoon whose actions unleash an environmental catastrophe, forcing him into a bizarre mission to convince the world that he can somehow become its savior. Warner Bros. describes it as a comedy-drama, but the film operates closer to political satire, ecological nightmare and theatrical absurdism.

That tonal gamble appears to have become part of the problem. Early reviews praised the ambition and Cruise’s commitment, but critics were sharply divided over Iñárritu’s deliberately eccentric approach. Rotten Tomatoes calls the film a bold swing that misses as often as it connects, while the first reviews described it as both an ambitious satire and a muddled one. 

For Cruise, the irony is striking. The actor who helped turn Top Gun: Maverick into a theatrical phenomenon has now discovered that even his name cannot automatically make an unconventional original film into an event. Digger may ultimately be remembered less for its eccentric ambition than for the size of the crater it leaves behind.

With its opening now firmly in bomb territory, the question is whether the film can find a second life through streaming, awards attention or cult appreciation. 

Alejandro G. Iñárritu Reveals Why ‘BLAH, BLAH, BLAH’ Almost Became ’Digger’s Title

What do you think went wrong with Digger? Share your thoughts in the comments.