How Much Money Tom Cruise's Digger Will Lose At The Box Office

Tom Cruise is one of cinema's most enduring stars, but he just suffered the biggest bomb of his career. "Digger" was shaping up to be a box office disaster for Cruise but has proved to be even worse than anticipated. It's going to go down as the most high-profile flop of 2026 and one of the biggest of the year overall, if not ever. It's very bad. As a result, Warner Bros. is going to lose a lot of money on this pricey disaster dramedy.

According to a new report from Deadline, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's latest is going to lose at least $150 million. That's if the movie can get to around $50 million at the global box office, which is a big ask at this point. Cruise's "Digger" flopped at the box office with a $20 million global debut. Against mixed reviews and lousy word of mouth, $50 million is now a best-case scenario. There is more bad news too.

Deadline's report is basing that on the oft-cited $160 million production budget, which doesn't account for WB's marketing spend, which was in the $100 million range. However, other reports have suggested that the budget was even higher. If so, $150 million may be the floor. What's the ceiling? Too high, frankly. That puts it in the same ballpark as "Joker 2" in terms of how much money it will lose at the box office. That's terrible company to be in.

Even worse, The Wrap published a report after Deadline's came out that claims the film will actually lose $250 million all told, "even when factoring in post-theatrical revenue."

This couldn't have come at a worse time. The Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount merger is official, with the mega-merger costing Paramount a reported $111 billion. To justify this absurd acquisition, the new regime at the combined company has to produce a lot of hits. "Digger," a movie with the biggest star in the world from an Oscar-winning director, just tanked in historic fashion as the merger closed. A bad omen if ever there were such a thing.

The box office failure of "Digger" also has implications for Tom Cruise's future. After spending 15 years or so as the world's biggest action star headlining the "Mission: Impossible" franchise and "Top Gun: Maverick," he was trying to enter a new phase of his career. This was not a good start. In all likelihood, Cruise is now going to try to play it a little more safe in the immediate future.

This also adds to what was already a rough year for Warner Bros. at the box office. The studio has only had a couple of outright hits, such as "Wuthering Heights" and "Lee Cronin's The Mummy." Everything else? It's either outright bombed or majorly disappointed. "Supergirl" flopped at the box office in a big way, while original bets like "The End of Oak Street" didn't pan out either. It's been tough sledding, particularly after 2025, when WB had a string of hits including "Sinners" and "Weapons."

For the industry at large, it's an example of an over-budgeted original bombing in theaters. The lesson here shouldn't be "don't make original movies," but instead, "make them with a more responsible price tag." With any luck, this will be one of the final nails in the coffin of Hollywood's budget problem and the reckoning that must come.