OOPS!

Staggering Amount of Money Cruise Film Will Lose Revealed

Skydance executives got a nasty shock when they saw the numbers.

Tom Cruise’s Digger has already been declared a flop by the critics, but just how expensive a flop is only now becoming clear.

The A-list actor’s much-awaited film is set to lose a stunning $250 million, according to The Wrap. This accounts for both its box-office run and post-theatrical revenue.

The political satire, which reportedly cost somewhere between $160 and $173 million to make, was an instant box-office crash. Initially, reports put the projected loss at around $125 million, but that number has skyrocketed after a disastrous opening weekend.

In addition to the film’s mammoth budget, the marketing budget reportedly runs about $100 million. Warner Bros. financed the movie entirely and apparently greenlit it under David Zaslav’s approval. It was the media empire’s last big release before Paramount Skydance takes over. The Wrap reports that Skydance executives were “shocked” to discover just how much money Cruise’s film was set to lose.

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In its opening weekend, Digger brought in just $8 million, coming in fourth behind Heart of the Beast, Resident Evil, and Verity.

Critics widely panned the movie, likely fueling its road to commercial failure. The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager called it a “catastrophe,” despite its director being Alejandro G. Iñárritu, a two-time Best Director winner at the Academy Awards.

“Over the course of 128 wearisome minutes, Iñárritu neither elicits a single laugh nor stumbles upon a novel way of making his impassioned case—even when, after an introductory half hour, he reveals that there’s more to his latest than meets the eye,” he wrote.

Of the film’s lead, Schager says, “Plastered with prosthetics to play an aging oil tycoon who triggers a global crisis, Cruise gives an off-the-wall turn that’s all kooky bug eyes, cocky insensitivity, and southern-friend bluster.”

The last time Cruise saw a box-office bomb to this extent was Lions for Lambs, which in 2007 opened to $6.7 million. But the war drama had a much lower budget: $35 million.

Cruise has not acknowledged the box-office failure just yet. Instead, the star paid tribute to his colleagues on Instagram, writing, “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.”

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Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

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