“Digger,” the quirky, end-of-the-world satire starring Tom Cruise, is poised to lose a stunning $250 million by the end of its run, TheWrap has learned, even when factoring in post-theatrical revenue. It is by far the biggest loss for the movie star, and one of the largest losses in recent years of movie releases.
Skydance executives were shocked to learn the extent of the loss of the Warner Bros. movie directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu when the company was handed over this week.
Previous reports put the projected loss at approximately $125 million, but it is expected to be far more extensive after earning just $8 million domestically and $21 million globally at the box office in its opening weekend.
The film is not expected to exceed $40 million in worldwide box office, according to insiders at Skydance.
A Warner Bros. representative had no comment.
Another individual familiar with the film’s budget and performance said the loss was likely to be betewen $200 million and $215 million, depending on performance in PVOD.
Either way, this individual noted, “it’s a shocking failure.”
The budget of the movie, according to multiple insiders, was $173 million, though part of that was due to a problem with Cruise’s prosthetics, which was covered by insurance and included a $25 million overage due to Cruise being delayed in finishing “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” Another insider put the final budget at $163 million, The marketing budget was about $100 million, mostly related to Cruise’s global press tour.
The film was also fully financed by Warner Bros., unlike other projects like “Dune,” which often have financial partners, making the loss Warner’s to shoulder in full.
The film, with Cruise playing a rich oil magnate whose wells trigger a global environmental catastrophe, garnered mixed reviews, with some finding the film confusing while others hailed it as bold and comically over the top.
Cruise is barely recognizable as Digger, a paunchy, balding billionaire living with a dying cat among mounted stuffed animals.
“Digger” was one of several big swings on auteur filmmakers from Warner Bros. Pictures heads Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca. Some worked, like “Sinners” ($327 million, 4 Oscars) and “One Battle After Another” ($213 million, 6 Oscars, including Best Picture). Others, like Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” ($24 million in total box office), did not.
But “Digger” was considered a coup when first greenlit by Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav himself, TheWrap is told, who had issued a mandate to make Warner talent friendly especiallly after director Chris Nolan left the studio for rival Universal.
Zaslav “made it a mission to go get Tom Cruise,” said the individual familiar with the film.
It marked the first film in a new pact with Cruise — the biggest movie star in the world — to make original and franchise films with Warner Bros. Pairing him with Iñárritu, one of only three directors to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars, seemed like a no-brainer.
But after a decade and a half of entertaining audiences by showing he could do really-for-real death-defying stunts, Cruise’s appeal didn’t carry over to a heavy-prosthetic transformation in a climate change satire.
De Luca and Abdy were dismissed by David Ellison, who has put Paramount’s Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein in charge of overseeing the film output for both Paramount and Warner Bros. under the newly formed Skydance.
They’ll have another stab at a Tom Cruise hit in “Days of Thunder 2,” which starts production next year for Paramount and co-stars Anne Hathaway.
