Hollywood is coming to the defence of Tom Cruise as “Digger” becomes one of the biggest studio bombs in movie history. In the week since “Digger” opened in theatres to a disastrous $8 million in the US and less than $1 million in Australia, industry names such as Anne Hathaway, Jane Fonda, Guillermo del Toro, Mandy Patinkin, Glen Powell and more have used social media to champion the movie. As del Toro bluntly put it on X: “Love the arts. Fuck the charts.”
“I loved this brilliant movie. It’s smart and trippy and aggressive and funny and ambitious,” Hathaway wrote on Letterboxd. “It’s worth making the time see and decide for yourself what you make of it. For me? 10/10.”
Patinkin was even more effusive in his praise for “Digger,” hailing Cruise’s latest as an “instant classic” and “one of the greatest pieces of film I have ever seen in my entire life,” adding: “This is an incredible piece of work. It puts the heart and soul back into the cinema. Everything we all love about cinema, this is it. Please, please, please, run! Don’t walk, run, and see this film.”
Fonda encouraged Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu to “keep being brave.”
“The film allows us to witness another side of Tom Cruise’s courage,” Fonda wrote on Instagram. “It was a big, brave risk for him to take on this role and he was very good in it and very brave. He went all out, 100% owning the part… The film finds an original and, yes, risky way to wake us up about the climate crisis and I hope and pray word of mouth will bring folks into this film because it is far out creatively and closer to the truth than any such film made thus far. Hugs, kisses and bravissimo to all involved.”
“Digger” was widely touted as Cruise’s first non-action movie role in nearly a decade. He stars in the movie as Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon who is faced with the end of the world after one of his rigs in Antartica malfunctions and sends ice caps hurtling towards Europe and more. Reviews for “Digger” were sharply divided, with some hailing it as a masterpiece and others panning it as an insufferable misfire.
As reported by Variety, the production budget for “Digger” ended up being between $160 million and $180 million. Throw on top of that a $100 million marketing budget and “Digger” would need to gross $350 million in theatres worldwide just to break even at the box office. That figure will be impossible to hit after the movie’s $20 million global start. The movie is now primed to lose at least $150 million to $200 million theatrically.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Cruise also took to his social media pages during the opening weekend for “Digger” to tell his fans that it was an honour to make the movie, adding: “Thank you to the entire cast and crew for your dedication, hard work and joy. The experience was truly unforgettable and I’m so proud of what we created.”
From Variety US