Cruise's 'Digger' bombs with $7.5M opening as 'Verity' wins weekend
Tom Cruise's big swing missed the mark. Warner Bros.' R-rated black comedy "Digger" dug itself a hole with a dismal $7.5 million opening weekend, per TheWrap. This marks Cruise's worst domestic debut since 2007's "Lions for Lambs."
Variety reports the film scraped together only $3.4 million on its opening Friday from 3,321 theaters. The Hollywood Reporter noted it had managed just $1.2 million in Thursday previews. The film, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and starring Cruise as an oil tycoon, reportedly cost between $125 million and $200 million to produce.
The release coincided with major studio turmoil. The Hollywood Reporter states that Warner Bros.' top film executives are departing, ahead of the studio's impending merger with Paramount.
Meanwhile, the thriller "Verity," based on a Colleen Hoover novel, topped the chart with a $33 million opening, according to TheWrap. The Hollywood Reporter says the film, starring Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway, earned $4.5 million in Thursday previews and was projected for a strong start.
Collider calls "Digger" a potential historic bomb, noting its global debut is eyeing just $20 million. The film's release is the last for Warner Bros. as an independent entity before its corporate rebrand.
