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It had an Oscar-winning director, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, and serious ambitions — so how did it go so wrong? Join us as we break down why Alejandro González Iñárritu's satirical black comedy "Digger" became one of cinema's most spectacular box office disasters, from its runaway budget and baffling marketing campaign to its failure to win over opening-weekend audiences.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're examining why Alejandro González Iñárritu's satirical
00:06black comedy Digger became one of history's biggest box office bombs. Consider yourself
00:12warm. Major spoilers lie ahead. We wanted this one to work, just the names attached
00:27sounded worth the price of a ticket. Tom Cruise had stepped away from his action franchises to
00:32work with the Oscar-winning director of Birdman and The Revenant. But Digger opened to just $8
00:38million in North America and $20 million worldwide. By October 12, its worldwide total stood at about
00:45$36 million, and Variety now projects a theatrical loss of $245 million. Those numbers are brutal.
00:54They're also a crushingly disappointing outcome for a movie that tried something different. So what
01:00caused everything to go so wrong? A massive budget for a niche movie.
01:30We know Tom Cruise can act. Born on the 4th of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia gave him plenty to
01:37do
01:38without asking him to jump off a cliff. His recent stunts deserve the attention they get, but audiences
01:43have missed seeing him take risks with the character. Playing an eccentric, aging oil baron
01:48offered that chance. Several critics who disliked Digger openly admired his commitment.
01:54I don't believe you understand what's happening, sir. What did you just say? Sorry, sir. Well, I know
01:59perfectly well what's going on there, because I'm paying for the whole thing. I'm paying for your
02:02f***ing 90% Hungarian goose-down winter jacket. I'm paying your salary. You want to shut her down?
02:07Well, um…
02:07Damn!
02:08Cruise's recent hits had delivered action, spectacle, and an evening with the hero audiences already
02:13loved. Digger offered an R-rated satire about a wealthy, hard-to-like man whose recklessness
02:18presents an existential threat to the planet. It then asked viewers to think about how art responds
02:24to catastrophe. There's an audience for that. Finding enough people to support this budget was
02:29the next hurdle. When I first read the script, it was so compelling. This thing is walking this
02:35razor's edge. It's a really unique feeling to laugh and then to feel like, oh God, they are wanting to
02:42save! And I'm so excited to see how the people will experience what we did together.
02:48Warner Bros. reportedly approved the film at $125 million. Production ran long and costs rose to
02:54between $160 million and $180 million, although the studio maintains it stayed at $125 million.
03:02Marketing added another $100 million. Industry executives estimated a worldwide theatrical
03:07break-even point of roughly $350 million. Warner Bros. said $300 million. Even the studio's own
03:15lower figure required a substantial hit. Tom Cruise, not exactly the box office news he was hoping for
03:21with Digger. No, not at all. But it does have everybody talking, including Tom, who is standing
03:2610 toes down in defense of Digger. You took a huge swing. It was a dream come true to be
03:32able to share
03:32it with people. As we know now, opening fell well short. Hollywood experts suggested a domestic debut
03:38near $40 million would suit a film this expensive. Instead, Digger made $8 million. Its overseas opening
03:47brought in another $12 million across 73 markets. The takeaway? Cruise's international following
03:53couldn't make up the difference. To Digger's credit, you can see where the money went.
04:11Critics praised the production design, and the film's VistaVision photography reflected its theatrical
04:16ambitions. The cost, though, left little room for even modest success. It became clear that a devoted
04:23fanbase wouldn't be enough. Digger needed moviegoers, those who rarely seek out this big of a swing,
04:31to take a chance on it. Budgeting around that hope made the disappointments far costlier.
04:37Here's the thing. You just realize, like, oh my gosh, there are no absolutes.
04:42For more on Hollywood's biggest box office flops and the gambles behind them, check out our Watchmojo
04:47pop culture live stream. How long would you say she has? Between two weeks and five minutes.
04:53A marketing campaign that couldn't market the movie. Everything you are, everything you've done,
05:03has come to this. We'd happily watch a Tom Cruise retrospective. One of Digger's teasers devoted its
05:09first two and a half minutes to clips from Tom Cruise's best-loved movies. The clip ran just over
05:15three minutes, which left little time for Digger. The retrospective gave us plenty of reasons to
05:21appreciate its star, but fewer reasons to see his new film.
05:25When all else fails, you hit it with the truth. You know, the hard truth. Just bang, bang, bang!
05:30Woo! Woo!
05:32What were we buying a ticket for? The campaign made that difficult to answer, partly because
05:38Iñárritu wanted viewers to discover Digger's surprises in a theater. After all, what good is
05:44a trailer if it spoils the fun? Here, though, protecting the surprise meant concealing a central
05:49part of the premise at hand.
05:51I wouldn't expect that. Those who haven't seen Digger should skip this next part.
05:56Spoiler warning. The oil tycoon's disaster turns out to be a stage play. Cruise also plays
06:02Curtis Markson, the actor portraying Digger Rockwell. Iñárritu's film deftly blurs the
06:08line between satire and the souls condemned to perform it, casting a chilling shadow over what
06:14their desperate creation truly means in the wake of total ruin. That's a considerably different
06:20proposition from the story that trailers appeared to offer. Who knows? For some viewers,
06:26it might have been a more interesting one.
06:29It's ridiculous. And it's scary.
06:33It's funny. And it's stupid. It's a lot of fun to watch.
06:37In any case, the marketing campaign kept that from them. Some critics cautioned that audiences
06:42were being prepared for an experience they wouldn't receive. Three days before release,
06:47opening day pre-sales were roughly half those of future Best Picture winner one battle after
06:53another at the equivalent point. In short, the secrecy hadn't generated enough demand.
07:11Warner Bros. then encouraged audiences to decide for themselves, spinning the disagreement as a
07:18selling point. At least the studio stood by the movie. It still needed to explain the appeal. A
07:24viewer could appreciate Cruise, ponder the mystery, and follow the debate without feeling any urgency
07:29to go. Sure, the campaign protected the experience of discovering Digger. But it then struggled to
07:36persuade people to actually have that experience. It wasn't the crowd pleaser, it needed to be.
07:52The first audiences could have changed the narrative, in the sense that strong recommendations
07:57might have brought in people who'd ignored the trailers or hesitated over the reviews.
08:02Instead, Digger received a C-plus cinema score. Only 47% of viewers surveyed by PostTrack
08:10said they'd definitely recommend it. Its second domestic weekend fell 60% to just over $3 million,
08:17all the while maintaining its theater count. The film had remained widely available. Demand,
08:22however, kept falling.
08:24Let's bomb the s**t out of her, Mr. President.
08:26I got a tomahawk so accurate it can shoot the tits off a Russian ballerina from halfway around the world.
08:30Please.
08:30There are women present.
08:36A number of critics felt the comedy landed with a thud, pointing to tired jokes about the metric
08:42system being un-American and a distinct lack of women in the boardroom. David Gonzalez,
08:47over at the Cinematic Reel, observed that jokes clearly written to prompt big laughs were met
08:52with dead silence in his theater. When a satire relies on cheap gags rather than sharp humor,
08:59audiences might get the points, but they're still left waiting for the actual punchline.
09:04Another bummer is this is a black comedy, no doubt, and the movie's not as funny as I think
09:09it wants to be. If the movie would have stuck the landing on the humor, the contrast between the
09:13comedy and the serious parts would have had far more weight to it.
09:17Pacing was another sticking point. Even though critics praised Cruz's performance and liked the
09:23ending, many felt that a runtime just over two hours dragged on like three. Others were intrigued
09:29by the central twist, but felt the movie didn't do enough with it. Instead of taking advantage of
09:34the big reveal, the film mostly kept hammering home the same points, leaving reviewers wondering
09:40what the twist amounted to. For the first 40 minutes or so, before the film really starts
09:46to play its hand, it looks clunky and grating and overacted. And then it shifts into, oh, I see,
09:53I see what you're doing. How long are you going to do it for?
09:56And that's really where the disappointment settles in. You can tell Cruz is giving it his all,
10:02and the craft behind the visuals is undeniable. While critics respected the effort, though,
10:07many still found the experience exhausting or superficial. Appreciating the work is one thing,
10:13actually enjoying your night at the theater is another. And for a movie with this kind of price
10:19tag, it needed audiences to leave raving about it. Still, history may be kind to Digger. The film
10:32does have its supporters, and its unusual choices gave them something they valued,
10:37even as those same choices frustrated others. Do you think Digger was destined to fail? Or is
10:47there more to appreciate beyond its financial results? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
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