The fall movie season has been full of everything from R-rated critical hits like Resident Evil and Primetime to nostalgia plays like Practical Magic 2 and Avengers Endgame: Encore. Now, a big-budget original film is going to test the true health of the box office. Digger hit theaters on October 2, marking Tom Cruise’s first new role in nearly a decade. So how much business did the divisive, Oscar-hopeful satire reel in over its first three days on the big screen?
Here is a breakdown of how Digger performed at the box office this past weekend:
Digger Box Office
Digger made an estimated $8.0 million at the box office between October 2 and October 4. That is far from where Cruise’s last few films have opened, as Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning debuted to $64.0 million in 2025, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One got off to a $54.7 million start in 2023, Top Gun: Maverick set records with its $126.7 million opening in 2022 and Mission: Impossible – Fallout scored $61.2 million when it came out in 2018. Digger marks Cruise’s first non-franchise film appearance since American Made, which made $16.8 million over its opening weekend in late September 2017. Adjusted for inflation, that is equivalent to $22.4 million in 2026 dollars – nearly triple Digger‘s pull. As for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, his last theatrical release was The Revenant, which made $39.8 million when it expanded to a wide release in January 2016.
According to Deadline, Digger made $1.2 million in domestic Thursday night previews. That cash is technically counted as part of the film’s $3.4 million Friday gross. It proceeded to make $2.6 million on Saturday and $2.0 million on Sunday. Among R-rated movies that don’t fit into either the action or horror genres, Digger‘s opening weekend ranks behind Scary Movie, “Wuthering Heights”, Verity, Primetime, The Drama and Jackass: Best and Last on the 2026 charts.
Looking beyond the United States and Canada, Digger has reeled in an additional $12.0 million overseas. In total, the film grossed $20.0 million worldwide this weekend. With a reported budget over $160 million, Digger is going to have a tough time turning a profit. The general Hollywood rule of thumb that a film’s breakeven point is 2.5 times its budget – to account for marketing spend and the cut that theaters take – means Digger needs at least $400 million to hit that mark theatrically. Even if there is a long awards campaign ahead for the film and its A-list cast, getting to that gross after this start seems virtually impossible. Iñárritu’s latest flick might not even make it to Birdman‘s $103.2 million, let alone The Revenant‘s $532.9 million.
Box Office Results (October 2-4, 2026)
Here is the top five at the domestic box office from this past weekend:
- Verity – $32.6 million
- Domestic Gross to Date: $32.6 million (1 week)
- Resident Evil – $12.5 million
- Domestic Gross to Date: $124.9 million (3 weeks)
- Heart of the Beast – $11.0 million
- Domestic Gross to Date: $38.4 million (2 weeks)
- Primetime – $8.0 million
- Domestic Gross to Date: $34.1 million (2 weeks)
- Digger – $8.0 million
- Domestic Gross to Date: $8.0 million (1 week)
Here is the top five at the worldwide box office from this past weekend:
- Verity – $62.5 million
- Worldwide Gross to Date: $62.6 million (1 week)
- Heart of the Beast – $32.5 million
- Worldwide Gross to Date: $98.7 million (2 weeks)
- Resident Evil – $29.1 million
- Worldwide Gross to Date: $245.4 million (3 weeks)
- Digger – $20.0 million
- Worldwide Gross to Date: $20.0 million (1 week)
- Avengers Endgame: Encore – $18.8 million
- Worldwide Gross to Date: $2.926 billion (441 weeks)
Thanks to its Encore re-release intended to drum up hype for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Endgame has overtaken Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time at the global box office.
