Digger earns $3.4 million on its first day in the US
Iñárritu's film with Tom Cruise opens below Warner Bros. expectations, and Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón have rushed to defend it.
Digger, Alejandro González Iñárritu's satire starring Tom Cruise, made about $3.4 million on its first day, Friday, October 2, in 3,321 theaters in the United States and Canada. The figure includes Thursday previews, according to Variety. The Hollywood Reporter reports $3.3 million for the same day. The gap comes from differing studio estimates.
Projections for the full weekend run from $7.5 million to $10 million. Warner Bros. had expected $12 million to $15 million before opening. Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter agree it is Cruise's lowest opening in 19 years. These are projections, not final numbers: actuals arrive Sunday, October 4.
Verity, another weekend release, took first place with about $15 million on Friday, per Variety. It is a thriller from Amazon MGM Studios starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson.
The film cost more than $125 million to produce, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Warner Bros. has not confirmed another figure.
Meanwhile, two Mexican filmmakers came to its defense. Guillermo del Toro wrote on X on October 1 that the film "delivers in scale, ambition and reach at a theatrical screen level," and called a headline suggesting viewers wait for streaming "petty," per El Universal. Alfonso Cuarón posted on October 3 a list of classics that were poorly received at release, including Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining; El Informador presents it as an indirect defense.
In Mexico, the film opened on October 1 and no local box office figure has been published yet. The Mexican weekend ends Sunday.
