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Tom Cruise's satirical black comedy "Digger" opened to $8 million from 3,300 theaters in North America over the weekend, below Warner Bros. projections, while Amazon MGM Studios' "Verity" led the domestic chart with $32.6 million.
Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, "Digger" carries a production budget of $125 million. Reports have put the figure closer to $180 million, which a studio representative disputes. Warner Bros. had projected an opening of $12 million to $15 million. The film added $12 million internationally.
The result is Cruise's lowest opening since "Lions for Lambs" launched to $6.7 million in 2007, a film made on a smaller budget. In "Digger," Cruise plays a balding, pot-bellied oil tycoon who learns he caused a natural disaster.
Third-party tracking services had initially suggested an opening near $30 million, but interest declined in the 10 days before release.
Audiences gave the film a C+ CinemaScore, one of the lowest grades of Cruise's career. It holds a 51% approval score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney described it as "dead and buried" in his review. Cruise wrote on social media on Saturday that he remains "so proud of what we created".
He is expected to move next to "Days of Thunder 2," which is set to enter production soon.
"Digger" is the final Warner Bros. release before Paramount Skydance's $111 billion merger with the studio, which is expected to be finalized Oct. 6.
Studio film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are leaving, with Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein taking over.
Their 2025 releases included the Oscar winners "One Battle After Another" and "Sinners."
"Verity," an adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel, earned $32.6 million from 3,510 North American locations.
Directed by Michael Showalter, the thriller stars Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett and has a $40 million budget.
The film follows struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), who becomes a ghostwriter for author Verity Crawford (Hathaway).
The audience was 78% female, and 38% were aged 25 to 34. The opening is below the $50 million earned by "It Ends With Us" in 2024 and above the debuts of "Regretting You" ($13.6 million) in 2025 and "Reminders of Him" ($17.9 million) in 2026.
"Verity" also received a C+ CinemaScore and holds a 34% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics. Critic Richard Lawson of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "literary misfire."
Shawn Robbins, Fandango's director of analytics, told The Hollywood Reporter the debut is another example of female-driven films performing at the box office.
The weekend is set to generate about $100 million domestically, according to Rentrak, up roughly 16% from the same weekend last year, when "Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" led with $34.1 million.
The 2026 domestic box office is projected to reach $7.95 billion on Sunday, 19% above the same point in 2025.
Sony's "Resident Evil" placed second in its third weekend with $12.5 million, for a domestic total of about $124.8 million. Paramount's "Heart of the Beast," starring Brad Pitt, earned $11 million in its second weekend, for an estimated $38.3 million.
A24's "Primetime," starring Robert Pattinson, added $8 million for a total of roughly $34 million and is in a close race with "Digger" for fourth place, depending on Monday actuals.
Disney's "Avengers: Endgame" returned to first place on the all-time global box office chart. Its "Avengers Endgame: Encore" rerelease, timed ahead of December's "Avengers: Doomsday," lifted the 2019 film back above "Avatar," which had reclaimed the top spot in 2021 with its own rerelease.
Sony's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" passed $2.5 billion worldwide, reaching $2.506 billion and holding third place on the all-time chart.
Peter Parker films have grossed more than $17.5 billion in total, making the character the highest-grossing in feature films.
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