Not all gambles pay off, and Digger is the latest example. The satirical black comedy has dug itself into a hole, opening to US$20 million globally, with US$8 million from the domestic box office, making it the lowest debut for leading star Tom Cruise since 2007’s Lions for Lambs (US$6.7 million).
The stark difference, however, is that the latter cost US$35 billion, significantly less than the US$160 to US$180 million production budget for the Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed pic. As Variety notes, it will end up as one of the biggest bombs of the year, and potentially, of all time, which doesn’t bode well for Warner Bros — not only did Digger extend its streak of box-office misfires following Supergirl, The Bride, and Wuthering Heights, but it also marks the last movie from the studio before Warner Bros. Discovery merges with Paramount to become Skydance.
Helmed by the Birdman and Revenant director, the R-rated film follows the most powerful man in the world, who embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s saviour before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything. Cruise has an additional co-producer credit, while Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), John Goodman (A Streetcar Named Desire), Sandra Hüller (Project Hail Mary), Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man), and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) round out the cast.
It opened in fifth place over the last weekend, behind Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson’s psychological thriller Verity, and a trio of holdovers: Resident Evil, Heart of the Beast, and the psychological drama Primetime. Verity racked up another US$30 million internationally to become Hathaway’s third number-one debut of the year after The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey, with Resident Evil now sitting at US$215 million globally against a US$75 million budget.
Zack Cregger’s big-screen adaptation of the Capcom video game series joins Spider-Man: Brand New Day as the second consecutive box-office win for Sony. The superhero sequel has earned US$2.5 billion worldwide and currently ranks as the third-highest-grossing film in history behind Avengers: Endgame (US$2.925 billion) and Avatar (US$2.923 billion), after Disney’s recent re-release pushed its 2019 blockbuster back to the top of the list. Featuring roughly three minutes of new footage that helps contextualise the upcoming events of Doomsday, it marked the debut of Disney’s new premium large-format certification, Infinity Vision, and has collected over US$126 million globally.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
