Tom Cruise Climate Film Digger is “Biggest Flop of His Career” and Could Lose $150m in “Historic Disaster”

Tom Cruise’s new climate film Digger is turning into the “biggest flop of his career” and could lose $150 million in a “historic disaster”, leading Warner Bros to try a bold new marketing strategy: implying Americans are dumb. The Mail has the story.

He has spent months relentlessly building anticipation for his new movie – but even Tom Cruise’s star power couldn’t stop Digger from bombing at the box office on its opening weekend.

The critically panned satire grossed just $8 million in US cinemas, with international sales of $12 million from 74 countries.

This for a movie which cost at least $125 million to make, with some insiders reporting that the production budget was actually closer to $160 million. On top of that, $100 million is thought to have been spent on marketing.

The film, directed by Alejandro G Iñárritu, needs to make around $350 million in movie theatres across the world to break even but industry experts say it is on course to lose $150 million, which would make it one of the biggest flops of Cruise’s 45-year career.

The actor’s 2007 political thriller Lions for Lambs was another major flop but cost only $35 million to make. Ten years later Cruise’s attempt at revitalising The Mummy franchise was also a huge misfire, losing $95 million.

At the opposite end of the scale, Verity, the chilling thriller based on Colleen Hoover’s smash hit novel and starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, made $32.6 million over the same weekend, comfortably earning the No. 1 spot at the box office.

Digger‘s opening was even beaten by the likes of Resident Evil, which has been in cinemas for two weeks. 

Despite Cruise’s huge publicity blitz, which saw him take part in his first magazine interview for years, alongside multiple TV appearances and even a London premiere attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales, last week’s reviews for Digger were the first nail in the coffin. 

The big-budget black comedy was positioned as a major awards contender for the actor, as he underwent a dramatic transformation to take on the role of an eccentric oil tycoon who unknowingly sparks an ecological disaster.

The brave new marketing strategy involves a social media blitz contrasting American reactions with those from overseas and implying Americans are too stupid to like it.

Warner Bros. has tested out a new marketing strategy for its box office flop Digger after a dismal opening weekend for the Tom Cruise movie.

Cruise and Director Alejandro G Iñárritu’s critically panned satire, which cost at least $125 million to make, grossed just $8 million in US cinemas over the weekend – the lowest opening weekend box office for a movie starring Cruise in 19 years. 

After already blowing another $100 million on marketing, which has seen Cruise in megadrive mode fronting months of teasers and appearing on every TV show going, the marketing executives have deployed a bold new tactic.

The social media accounts for Digger are now leaning into the divisive reaction to the movie. In recent days the film’s X account has been reposting any positive fan review it can find, adding thunderous replies in the style of Cruise’s oil tycoon character such as “HIT ‘EM WITH THE HARD TRUTH”.

But one post which took direct aim at US critics and their scathing reviews has been deleted by the studio.

Last week as the critical reviews rolled in, an online ad was shared on X which showed Cruise as Digger Rockwell saying, “America has stood beside the world in its darkest of hours,” to which Riz Ahmed’s character shoots back, “Not anymore.”

The ad then flashed up a succession of critic quotes alongside a flag representing the critic’s country. 

The first from a Mexican YouTuber who called the film “Epic, Extraordinary and Biting”, was followed by a quote from US site Playlist which called the film “Grotesque, Deliberately Tacky”.

There was also a line from a French critic who declared the film “a Gem of Intelligence”, followed by the New York Post calling it “An Unintentionally Bad Movie”.

The ad concluded with Cruise’s character declaring, “You decide which!”

As of Monday the ad was no longer available on X. Reactions to the post remain on the site though with one fan deciding: “A film’s marketing calling out how dumb Americans are is such a beast mode move man, I might have to watch it now!”

“They’re saying Americans are too dumb for Digger. Prove the Europeans wrong and go to the movies. It’s your patriotic duty,” added another. 

“Holy s*** they’re straight up calling out Americans for being the only people who didn’t like the movie,” said one more. 

It’s an interesting strategy for the movie, which contrary to the ad has not performed particularly well overseas. The opening weekend saw international sales of just $12 million from 74 countries.

Worth reading in full.