Tom Cruise suffers one of the worst movie debuts of his career. Reviews were so bad Warner Bros. ran ‘decide for yourself’ ads

Tom Cruise's latest film, "Digger," experienced a disastrous opening weekend, marking one of the worst debuts of the actor's career. The movie, directed by Michael Showalter and starring Dakota Johnson, flopped at the box office, grossing a mere $32.6 million in its opening weekend. Despite Cruise's typically strong draw, both overseas ($12 million from 74 markets) and domestically, the film struggled with weak international sales as well.

The production, which cost at least $125 million and possibly as much as $150 million, was met with poor reviews, leading Warner Bros. to run "decide for yourself" ads. The marketing expenditure on the film was estimated to be another $100 million. The movie was positioned as a potential awards-season contender, but its performance fell short of expectations, even compared to Warner Bros.' previous big-budget movie "One Battle After Another," which still managed to gross $213.2 million worldwide and win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The disappointing opening comes at a time of significant change in the Hollywood landscape, with the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery nearing completion. After the deal is finalized, Warner Bros. co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are expected to leave the company, followed by mass layoffs. Critics panned "Digger" as a poorly executed climate change farce, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 51% fresh.

Despite Cruise's effort to promote the film, including granting a lengthy magazine interview, "Digger" managed to secure only a "C+" CinemaScore from audiences.