Tom Cruise film Digger opens fifth as Verity leads North American box office

Tom Cruise’s new film Digger has opened in fifth place at the North American box office, taking about $8 million during its first weekend, according to figures cited by ABC News Australia. The film’s opening is a significant disappointment against a reported production budget of $125 million before marketing costs. Marketing expenditure was estimated in the supplied material at a further $100 million.

Digger earned about $20 million worldwide, including $12 million internationally, during the same period. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon whose drilling activity triggers an environmental disaster. The film is directed by Alejandro G.

Iñárritu and was distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. Its reception from critics was divided, with some reviewers describing it as an unsuccessful climate-change satire. Digger’s release came as Paramount Skydance was due to complete its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery after approval from the US Justice Department, according to the report.

The film’s performance adds pressure to a major release at a time of corporate change for its distributor. Verity took the top position in North America with $32.6 million. The adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel stars Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, and follows a struggling writer hired to ghostwrite for a successful author under unsettling circumstances.

Michael Showalter directed the film. Verity also led the Australian box office, where it recorded $3.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Other films listed among the weekend’s North American leaders included Resident Evil, Heart of the Beast and Primetime.

Cruise has remained a major action-film star through projects including the Mission: Impossible series and Top Gun: Maverick. The supplied material identifies 2017’s The Mummy as his previous major box-office disappointment, although that film earned $409.2 million worldwide.