Tom Cruise's 'Digger' opens to split reviews and shrinking box office forecasts; 'Verity' set to win the weekend
Iñárritu's film reportedly cost $160 million to $180 million, but its U.S. opening projections have plunged, while the Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson thriller is aiming for up to $40 million.
Foto: Warner Bros./Divulgação via Terra'Digger', Tom Cruise's new film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, hit Brazilian theaters on Thursday (Oct. 1) surrounded by hype, but also by doubts. In the apocalyptic satire, an unrecognizable Cruise plays tycoon Digger Rockwell, whose company triggers an ecological catastrophe and who then tries to convince the world he is the savior of the very crisis he created. The cast includes John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Critics are split: the film sat at 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Los Angeles Times called Digger Cruise's 'riskiest role in eons,' and the BBC praised the sheer scale of his performance; The Hollywood Reporter, however, compared it to misfires like 'Babylon,' and The Daily Beast dismissed it as 'a tedious satire.' According to Forbes, Warner Bros. now projects a $12 million to $15 million U.S. opening, well below the $20 million to $30 million forecast in September, for a film that reportedly cost between $160 million and $180 million, plus about $100 million in marketing.
The one likely smiling this weekend is 'Verity', the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestseller starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, which also opened in Brazil on Thursday. Despite lukewarm reviews (47% on Rotten Tomatoes), the thriller, made for $40 million, is tracking between $27 million and $40 million for its U.S. debut and goes in as the favorite to beat the 'Top Gun' star.
