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Digger' Falters at Box Office, 'Verity' Surges to No. 1
Confirmed
In Short: In contrast, 'Verity,' based on Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel, soared to the top of the box office with a Friday gross of $15.1 million, bringing its total to $33.6 million.
Warner Bros.' 'Digger,' starring Tom Cruise, opened to a disappointing $8 million, marking the actor's lowest opening since 2007's 'Lions for Lambs,' which grossed $6.7 million.
Digger,' directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, was expected to perform poorly, but the actual results were even worse than anticipated. The film's RT audience score of 71% matches that of Ari Aster's 'Beau Is Afraid,' another divisive film.
In contrast, 'Verity,' based on Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel, soared to the top of the box office with a Friday gross of $15.1 million, bringing its total to $33.6 million.
Verity,' starring Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, and Dakota Johnson, is playing in theaters across the South, East, South Central, and Midwest, outperforming expectations.
Despite a robust promotional campaign for 'Digger,' including a GQ cover and appearances on 'The Jennifer Hudson Show,' the film failed to resonate with audiences.
Paramount's 'The Heart of the Beast' followed 'Digger' in third place with $3.15 million, bringing its cumulative gross to $38.39 million.
Digger's' underperformance is part of a string of misfires for Warner Bros., including 'The Bride!' and 'Supergirl.
Background
''Verity'' is an English-language female given name derived from the Latin ''veritas'', meaning "truth". It is also used as a surname.
A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons can perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket.
What's confirmed
- Iñárritu directed Digger wouldn’t be a tycoon at the B.O.
What's still developing
- SATURDAY AM: Refresh for chart and more analysis Warner Bros’ very original, very expensive auteur feature, Digger, is filing an $8M opening, which is still the lowest Tom Cruise has seen since 2007’s much cheaper Lions for Lambs at $6.7M.
- In hindsight, Amazon MGM Studios was bold to date on top of a big budget Cruise movie with the big screen take of Colleen Hoover’s Verity, but they caught wind from early on that the Alejandro G.
- On the bright side for Digger, frankly, we thought it would be worst in the Mother!
- Interestingly enough, Digger ‘s RT audience score of 71% is the same as Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid (71%), which was another divisive film made for $50M (considered wildly expensive for the arthouse auteur, though next to Digger ‘s $160M+ production cost, a very thrifty spend).
- Not even a Tom Cruise-filled, all-stops-pulled press tour — including a GQ cover, a “New Heights” podcast appearance and a “Risky Business”-inspired jaunt down the “Jennifer Hudson Show” spirit tunnel — could keep “ Digger ” from flatlining at the box office.
- Despite Cruise’s enduring star power, having anchored recent blockbusters like the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and 2022’s sensation “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Digger” will wind up as the latest misfire for Warner Bros.
- This year, the studio has siphoned off a string of duds including Maggie Gyllenhaal’s punk rock “The Bride!” and DC’s comic book adaptation “Supergirl.” With general audiences rejecting “Digger,” Amazon MGM’s psycho-thriller “ Verity ” took the top spot on Friday with $15.1 million from 3,510 North American theaters.
- Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book of the same name, “Verity” centers around famed author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), who gets badly injured in a car accident, leaving her husband (Josh Hartnett) to hire a struggling writer (Dakota Johnson) to finish the remaining books.