Tom Cruise in “Digger.”
Warner Bros. Pictures
Digger, an apocalyptic satire starring Tom Cruise from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is projected to earn below already low pre-release projections in its opening weekend in North American theaters.
Cruise stars in the film as Digger Rockwell, a powerful oil baron who navigates chaos when an ecological disaster he’s responsible for threatens the future of the planet. Rated R, Digger also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons.
Digger earned $1.2 million in preview screenings in 3,000 North American locations on Thursday before officially opening in 3,321North American theaters on Friday.
A long-range projection released by Box Office Pro on Sept. 11 noted that the film was tracking to open in the $20 million to $30 million range. From there, projections took a dive as Box Office Theory pegged the film for a domestic opening from $7.5 million to $12.5 million, while Warner Bros.’ forecast had the film opening in the $12 million to $15 million range.
As of Friday night, it appears the weekend number for Digger is closest to Box Office Theory’s forecast, as Deadline is projecting that the film will earn $10 million in its opening frame.
The trade publication noted that the $10 million opening is the lowest first weekend for a Cruise film since the 2007 war drama Lions for Lambs made $6 million. Deadline noted that the film — in which Cruise starred opposite Robert Redford and Meryl Streep — had a production budget of $35 million before prints and advertising costs.
Even before the production budget number for Lions for Lambs is adjusted for inflation, it’s significantly lower than the amount it took to make Digger. Variety reported on Wednesday that Digger “was greenlit at $125 million, but according to four knowledgeable sources, the budget climbed to $160 million to $180 million after production went over schedule.” Variety also noted that Warner Bros. P&A spend for Digger was $100 million.
Should Deadline’s projection for Digger hold, the film will open at No. 4 in the domestic top five.
Anne Hathaway in “Verity.”
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
Anne Hathaway’s ‘Verity’ Is Projected To Open At No. 1
The adaptation of author Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel Verity, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, is projected by Deadline to open with $32 million in ticket sales from 3,510 North American theaters.
Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who moves to the remote estate of Verity Crawford (Hathaway) to ghostwrite the legendary writer’s final book. After her arrival, Lowen discovers Verity’s autobiographical notes appear to paint her husband, Jeremy (Hartnett), in a sinister light. Verity had a $40 million production budget before P&A, according to Variety.
Director Zach Cregger’s horror comedy Resident Evil is projected by Deadline to earn $11.5 million domestically and finish at No. 2 this weekend, followed by Brad Pitt’s deep woods survival thriller The Heart of the Beast at No. 3 with $10.3 million.
Should those projections hold, it will boost Resident Evil’s running domestic take to $123.8 million and The Heart of the Beast to $37.7 million. Resident Evil and The Heart of the Beast are playing in 3,259 and 3,481 North American venues, respectively.
The Chris Hansen-inspired investigative crime drama Primetime — starring Robert Pattinson as NBC Dateline’s To Catch a Predator reporter — is projected by Deadline to earn the No. 5 spot behind Digger with $7.6 million in ticket sales from 2,894 North American theaters. Should the project hold, it will boost Primetime’s 10-day domestic total to $32.7 million.
Note: This box office report — including numbers from Tom Cruise’s “Digger” and Anne Hathaway’s “Verity” — will be updated throughout the weekend with the latest estimates as they become available. The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.
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