Tom Cruise’s biggest gamble just hit rock bottom in its fourth week at the box office. The star’s latest film suffered one of the largest theater drops in recent memory, losing over 3,000 screens since its debut.
Digger gets removed from 3100 theaters in fourth week
Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger will shed another 583 theaters this week. Tom Cruise’s political satire opened in more than 3,300 locations on October 2. It now enters its fourth week in just over 200 theaters, a 3,100-screen decline from its debut. Warner Bros. gave the film a wide release with strong IMAX support, but audiences did not show up.
The film earned only $8 million domestically in its opening weekend against a reported $180 million budget. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey replaced it at several IMAX locations after just one week. Digger then lost 2,500 theaters in its second week, the 10th-largest drop of all time.
Worldwide grosses remain below $50 million so far. Even Joker: Folie à Deux managed to cross $200 million despite its own poor reception. Digger has become the biggest flop of both Cruise’s career and 2026.
Reviews have split sharply on the film. It holds a 52% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s consensus describes it as a bold but inconsistent effort from Cruise and Iñárritu. Some critics labeled it a self-aggrandizing slog, while others praised it as a prescient masterpiece.
The film also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, and Emma D’Arcy. An early trailer leaned heavily on clips from Cruise’s most iconic roles. The marketing push included a reported Oscar campaign for Cruise. However, the film’s commercial failure and polarized reception have dimmed those prospects significantly. Digger does not yet have a premium video-on-demand release date.
The 128-minute satire follows a powerful man who must redeem himself after unleashing a catastrophe.
