Digger, the Tom Cruise-led satire about climate change, is reportedly on course to lose $250 million by the time its theatrical run ends, TheWrap reports.
It’s a staggering figure. What makes it worse is who reportedly expects it: the very people who now own the film.
The new owners aren’t hopeful
According to TheWrap, insiders at Skydance, which is now the parent company above Warner Bros., don’t believe Digger will reach $40 million at the global box office. Anyone who looked at the opening weekend results won’t find that forecast surprising.
In its debut weekend, the film earned only $8 million in the U.S., while overseas markets added $12 million. That comes to $20 million worldwide for a film with Cruise’s name at the top of the poster. Nobody at the studio wanted to see that figure.
Warner Bros. has not responded to the claims.
A polarizing film that couldn’t turn controversy into ticket sales
Critics and audiences are both split on Digger. Some have tried to pitch the mixed response as a reason to buy a ticket, the familiar “see it and make up your own mind” approach, but it doesn’t seem to have filled seats.
On paper, it looked like a can’t-miss release. The director is Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who won Best Director at the Oscars in consecutive years for Birdman and The Revenant. And Cruise is about as reliable a box-office draw as Hollywood still has. With those two names together, you’d expect at least a respectable opening.
Awkward timing at the corporate level
The business situation makes it worse. Paramount is buying Warner Bros. in a contested $110 billion deal, which will put the two studios side by side under Skydance.
That means the incoming owners are taking on a Tom Cruise film that made $20 million worldwide in its opening weekend. If the insiders are correct, it will finish below $40 million.