'Digger' bombs with $8m opening as 'Verity' scores $32m debut at box office

'Digger' is expected to finish its opening weekend with around $8 million

Tom Cruise’s Digger has suffered a major box office disappointment, opening to around $8 million domestically as Amazon MGM’s Verity claimed the No. 1 spot with a $32 million debut.

Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Digger opened in 3,321 cinemas and earned $3.4 million on Friday, including previews. The film is expected to finish its opening weekend with around $8 million, making it one of the weakest domestic debuts of Cruise’s career.

Digger reportedly carries a production budget of between $160 million and $180 million, before marketing costs. The film stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, a powerful oil tycoon facing an ecological disaster, and also features Mark Ruffalo, Michael Fassbender and Jesse Plemons.

The disappointing result comes despite Cruise remaining one of Hollywood’s biggest theatrical stars. The opening is particularly notable because Digger is Cruise’s first collaboration with Oscar-winning filmmaker Iñárritu, whose previous films include Birdman and The Revenant.

Meanwhile, Verity dominated the weekend. The Amazon MGM thriller, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, earned an estimated $32 million in its opening weekend from 3,510 locations. The film stars Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, a writer hired to complete a successful book series after its author, played by Anne Hathaway, becomes incapacitated.

Verity’s debut gives it a strong start against its reported $40 million production budget, while Digger faces a far steeper challenge because of its much larger costs. The contrasting performances make the weekend a particularly significant one for both films, with Verity emerging as the clear box office winner and Digger facing a major commercial setback.