COSTLY CRASH
The movie’s second-weekend performance fell even further short of expectations.
Digger, starring Tom Cruise, is poised to lose $245 million at the box office. Warner Bros. was initially expected to lose $150 million to $200 million after last weekend’s opening raked in just $8 million domestically and $20 million globally. However, the movie’s second-weekend performance fell even further short of expectations, bringing its total earnings to $14.4 million domestically and $35.3 million worldwide. Digger is projected to earn just $50 million worldwide by the end of its theatrical run. Variety reports that the film needs an estimated $350 million globally to break even, accounting for theaters keeping roughly half of ticket sales. Warner Bros. claims the break-even point is $300 million. Even efforts by Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway, Jane Fonda, Guillermo del Toro, and Mandy Patinkin, to promote the movie proved fruitless. The offbeat dark comedy has gotten such bad reviews that Warner Bros. launched a “Decide for Yourself” marketing campaign encouraging audiences to look beyond the critics.
