First Reactions Split Tom Cruise's 'Digger' Wide Open

First reactions to Iñárritu's 'Digger' run from 'baffling' to a career-best Cruise performance, as box-office trackers warn of an opening stumble.

Tom Cruise's 'Digger' finally screened for the film press on September 22, and Variety reports the satirical black comedy from Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu is being called everything from 'baffling' to 'unpleasant' to 'fascinating stuff.' The film stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, a wealthy tycoon who must save the world after one of his oil rigs causes an environmental catastrophe, alongside Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons. It marks Cruise's first adult drama in over a decade, his only non-action role since 2017's 'American Made' per ScreenRant.

The reactions, as collected by Variety, could hardly be further apart. IndieWire's Jim Hemphill calls it 'one of the most visually inventive, conceptually audacious, and unpredictable studio movies ever made' and Cruise's best performance since 'Magnolia,' while IndieWire's Anne Thompson deems it 'a brave and gorgeous art film' best suited for the Academy. On the other side, Awards Radar's Joey Magidson calls it a 'mess,' critic Edward Douglas expects a 'HORRENDOUS CinemaScore,' and journalist Mike Ryan finds it 'kind of generally unpleasant.' Variety's Clayton Davis respects the swing but says 'not all the dots connect.'

ScreenRant flags the commercial stakes: the $125 million film is tracking to open at just $20–30 million the weekend of October 2, and could lose the #1 domestic spot to the Colleen Hoover adaptation 'Verity' — which would give Cruise consecutive non-first-place openings after 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' finished second to 'Lilo & Stitch' in 2025. According to ScreenRant, of the 25 films Cruise has released this century, only four prior debuts failed to top the domestic weekend, including the 2016–2017 stretch of 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,' 'The Mummy' and 'American Made.'

Variety reports the film world-premiered Tuesday night in London as this year's Royal Film Performance, with Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales walking the carpet, greeted by a trumpet salute of 'God Save the King.' Cruise thanked the royals for what they do 'for the arts' and called Iñárritu 'one of one.' The premiere followed heavy promotion of Cruise's transformation into Digger Rockwell: per Variety, the prosthetics initially took six hours to apply before Cruise drilled the process down to under an hour.

As Clayton Davis tells Variety, 'The divide on this one is going to be wide,' and Anne Thompson tells IndieWire critics will divide on Cruise even as crafts and actors branches may respond. ScreenRant adds that Cruise has already lined up 'Days of Thunder 2' for summer 2028, with 'Top Gun 3' in development, should the gamble misfire commercially.