The environmental satire 'Digger,' starring Tom Cruise, has flopped at the box office and could cost the studio around $245 million, according to infohub.kz.
The film, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, features Cruise as an eccentric oil tycoon. It received negative reviews from critics and failed to attract audiences. In two weeks of release, the movie has grossed only $14.4 million in North America and $35.3 million worldwide.
The production cost $160–180 million, excluding marketing expenses that could have added up to $100 million more.
Industry experts are calling the financial result a disaster for Warner Bros. Analysts say the box office failure stemmed from mispositioning the film. It was marketed as a mass-market offering for a broad audience, even though it is essentially an art film that satirically critiques American culture from the perspective of a foreign director.
Even the involvement of Tom Cruise, whose name usually guarantees high box office returns, could not save the situation. Experts note that Alejandro González Iñárritu's project was conceived as an artistic experiment rather than a commercial blockbuster, which is why distributors failed to draw mass audiences to theaters.