Tom Cruise latest film, Digger, dey expected to lose around $245m (£185m), so Hollywood analysts tok. The satirical black comedy, wey Cruise play oil magnate Digger Rockwell, don continue to perform poor for box office. Ticket sales drop by around 60% for di movie second weekend inside cinemas.
Dat one carry Digger total box office takings so far reach around $35m (£26m) globally. Di film estimated to cost studio Warner Bros around $280m (£211m) to make and market. But Cruise tok last week say he ‘never thought of movies when I’m making them [in terms of] opening weekend,’ and say him focus on making films wey ‘hopefully will translate, last and evolve’.
Di film box office takings compared to im budget mean e fit become one of di biggest film flops for Hollywood history. Dat go put Digger for same bracket as other films wey lose upwards of $100m, including 1995 Cutthroat Island, 2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash, 2005 Sahara and 2012 John Carter. Other films estimated to don lose nine-figure sums include Mars Needs Moms (2011), Amsterdam (2022), The 13th Warrior (1999), The Marvels (2023) and Speed Racer (2008).
Digger performance stand in sharp contrast to di success of major franchises starring Cruise in recent years, like new instalments of Top Gun and Mission: Impossible. Hollywood trade publication Variety tok say Digger expected to end im box office run with around $50m (£38m) worldwide. Di film go need around $350m (£264m) to break even, because of im budget, marketing costs, di portion of ticket sales wey go theatres and di likely spend on awards season campaign. However, a Warner Bros spokesman push back small on di figure, tell Variety say di film break even point na $300m (£227m).
Digger na di last standalone release for di studio before im recent takeover by Paramount. Alejandro G Iñárritu direct di film. Dem know am well for films like Birdman, Babel and The Revenant. Digger receive generally poor reviews from critics, and dat prompt Warner Bros to launch a new marketing campaign wey urge audiences to ‘decide for yourself’.
Meanwhile, di new sequel to di Oscar-winning hit The Social Network also struggle for box office on im opening weekend. The Social Reckoning take $5.5m (£4.1m) for US, significantly lower than di $22m (£16m) wey im predecessor take on im opening weekend for 2010, not adjusted for inflation. Globally, Aaron Sorkin latest film, wey star Mikey Madison, Jeremy Strong and Jeremy Allen White, take around $9m (£6.8m). Di film tell di true story of a Facebook engineer, Frances Haugan, wey leak internal documents to a reporter after she become concerned about some of di company practices.
The Social Reckoning dem beat for US box office chart by horror movie Other Mommy, psychological thriller Verity, video game adaptation Resident Evil and Brad Pitt wilderness thriller Heart of the Beast.
Tom Cruise eco-satire Digger, a movie wey suppose herald di action hero return to serious acting, bomb for box office, with industry insiders predicting e fit lose a quarter of a billion dollars. Di Alejandro Inarritu comedy, wey feature Cruise as eccentric oil baron wey must fix problem he help create, critics panned am and audiences no too feel am, leaving studio Warner Bros with big balance sheet hole just as merger with Paramount Skydance closes.
After two weeks for theaters, di film don gross just $14.4m for North America and $35.3m globally — tiny numbers for a big-budget movie, and e point to cumulative losses in region of $245m. Christopher Rosen of Hollywood trade publication The Ankler tell AFP say, ‘Financially it has to be considered a disaster. It cost anywhere from $160m to $180m — that’s even before marketing — and it’s made relatively nothing at the box office.’ Marketing for a movie like Digger fit cost up to $100m.
Daniel Loria of Boxoffice Pro note say dem greenlit di film under outgoing Warner Bros executives Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, wey make name for themselves by giving filmmakers resources and studio budgets to create original, innovative movies. ‘Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t,’ he tok. As art-house film wey satirize American culture through lens of non-American like Inarritu, Digger perhaps destined to be heavy lift. ‘This movie was never going to get a general audience to get behind it, right? I don’t think it was ever designed like that,’ Loria tok. ‘The film takes every opportunity to push the audience in uncomfortable directions. American audiences don’t have the easiest time accepting films that criticize American culture, especially when they’re made by foreigners.’
Potential mismatch dey. Presence of Cruise — a man sometimes credited with rescuing box office after im pandemic slump with Top Gun: Maverick — always go make di film stand out. Paul Dergarabedian, market analyst at Rentrak, tok say, ‘You’ve got arguably the biggest movie star in the world (who) was literally everywhere for this movie. He 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.’
Size of Cruise star for movie firmament make comparison even less flattering: Digger never go dey same ballpark as multi-billion dollar Mission: Impossible franchise. But di film box office align with kind of film wey Inarritu dey make, Loria tok. Im movies ‘aren’t really too worried about their box office total; they’re worried about having an artistic endeavor behind’ them. Dat make Digger something of mismatch, Loria tok. ‘Unfortunately, I think this was marketed as a general audience movie, when at heart, this is an art-house film.’
