Tom Cruise and Alejandro Inarritu's Digger Bombs at Box Office with $245 Million Loss Digger, the Tom Cruise eco-satire directed by Alejandro Inarritu, has grossed only $14.4 million in North America and $35.3 million globally after two weeks, with insiders predicting losses of around $245 million. The Warner Bros. film was panned by critics and leaves the studio with a major balance sheet hole as its merger with Paramount Skydance closes. The Tom Cruise eco-satire Digger has bombed at the box office, with industry insiders predicting it could lose a quarter of a billion dollars. After two weeks in theaters, the film has grossed just US$14.4 million in North America and US$35.3 million globally. Those tiny numbers for a big-budget movie point to cumulative losses in the region of US$245 million. The Alejandro Inarritu comedy features Cruise as an eccentric oil baron who must fix the problem he has helped create. It was supposed to herald the action hero's return to serious acting. Instead, it was panned by critics and has left audiences cold.Warner Bros Faces Financial DisasterThe result leaves studio Warner Bros. with a big balance sheet hole just as a merger with Paramount Skydance closes. Financially it has to be considered a disaster, Christopher Rosen of Hollywood trade publication The Ankler told AFP. He said it cost anywhere from $160 million to $180 million, even before marketing, and it has made relatively nothing at the box office. Marketing for a movie like Digger can cost up to US$100 million.Daniel Loria of Boxoffice Pro noted that the film was greenlit under the tenure of outgoing Warner Bros. executives Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca. They made a name for themselves by giving filmmakers the resources and studio budgets to create original, innovative movies. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not, he said. As an art-house film that satirizes American culture through the lens of a non-American like Inarritu, Digger was perhaps destined to be a heavy lift.Loria said this movie was never going to get a general audience to get behind it. He added that he does not think it was ever designed like that. The film takes every opportunity to push the audience in uncomfortable directions, he said. American audiences do not have the easiest time accepting films that criticize American culture, especially when they are made by foreigners.Tom Cruise Star Power Highlights FilmThe presence of Cruise was always going to make the film stand out. He is a man sometimes credited with rescuing the box office after its pandemic slump with Top Gun: Maverick. Paul Dergarabedian, a market analyst at Rentrak, said you have got arguably the biggest movie star in the world who was literally everywhere for this movie. He said Cruise was so excited about this movie and working with Alejandro Inarritu.By virtue of Tom Cruise's star power, there was a spotlight on this movie. Anything he does is going to be under a microscope, Dergarabedian said. The size of Cruise's star in the movie firmament makes the comparison even less flattering. Digger was never going to be in the same ballpark as the multi-billion dollar Mission: Impossible franchise.But the film's box office does align with the kind of film that Inarritu makes, said Loria. His movies are not really too worried about their box office total, Loria said. They are worried about having an artistic endeavor behind them. That makes Digger something of a mismatch, said Loria.Digger Marketed as General Audience FilmUnfortunately, he thinks this was marketed as a general audience movie, when at heart, this is an art-house film. Film critic Richard Crouse talked about Digger and other new movies on October 12, 2026. Tom Cruise posed for photographers upon arrival at the world premiere for the film Digger in London on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. Images released by Warner Bros.Pictures show Ross Hatt, left, and Tom Cruise in a scene from Digger. Another image shows Tom Cruise, left, and Riz Ahmed in a scene from Digger.