Iñárritu's Digger opened to $7.5 million this weekend from 3,321 locations, including Imax. According to The Wrap, it is Tom Cruise's lowest opening weekend since Lions for Lambs, which launched to $6.7 million in 2007.
The film carries a production budget of at least $125 million, with some estimates placing it as high as $160 million, per The Wrap. A $7.5 million debut against that cost represents a significant shortfall for Warner Bros.
Amazon MGM's Verity claimed No. 1 with $33 million from 3,510 locations. The Colleen Hoover adaptation, starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, earned $15 million on opening day. Both films earned a C+ CinemaScore. Digger scored 51 percent from critics on Rotten Tomatoes with a 71 percent audience score; Verity landed 34 percent critics and 69 percent audience. The overall weekend was up 17 percent from the same period a year ago, per The Wrap.
The context adds weight. Digger is effectively Warner Bros.' final wide release under its current identity. The studio is set to finalize its merger with Paramount on October 6, with the combined company to be named Skydance, according to Variety. Studio heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are exiting ahead of the close, per The Wrap and Variety. Guillermo del Toro publicly defended Digger following its mixed critical reception, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The studio it opened for no longer exists by the end of next week.
