{
  "id": 12033753,
  "title": "Tom Cruise suffers one of the worst movie debuts of his career. Reviews were so bad Warner Bros. ran ‘decide for yourself’ ads",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/tom-cruise-suffers-one-of-the-worst-movie-debuts-of-his-career",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-04T21:02:21.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/10/04/tom-cruise-worst-movie-debuts-career-digger-opening-box-office/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.",
  "summary": "Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s critically panned satire grossed a paltry $8 million domestically.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News AU",
        "title": "Tom Cruise movie Digger bombs at box office, Verity takes top spot",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/tom-cruise-movie-digger-bombs-at-box-office-verity-takes-top-spot",
        "published": "2026-10-05T01:05:19.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}