“Digger,” a $175M+ black comedy directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Tom Cruise, is set to hit theaters in October 2026.
There hasn’t been much promotional material released for “Digger,” despite it arriving a little over four months from now. However, if you caught the theatrical re-releases of “Top Gun” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” you may have seen a teaser for the upcoming film. The footage briefly leaked online last month, but was quickly taken down by Warner Bros. after circulating for a few hours.
That teaser is now officially online, complete with its two-minute-plus introduction — essentially a Tom Cruise greatest-hits montage that appears to be laying the groundwork for an awards campaign. Cruise has yet to win an Oscar, and many believe this performance could finally make it happen.
In the film, Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a Texan oil tycoon who is warned about a massive glacier named Judy—hence the film’s original working title—that is set to wreak global chaos. When he initially refuses to heed the warnings, the consequences become dire. Suddenly convinced that fate has called him to save the world, Digger embarks on a wild mission to do just that, meeting with the planet’s most powerful figures, including the President of the United States. Think ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ but for the 21st century.
Visually, the film is reportedly stunning, thanks to DP Emmanuel Lubezki, with its stylish sets being compared to “Poor Things.” That said, and in all likelihood, it’s Cruise’s transformation—aging makeup, prosthetic nose, a pot belly, combed-over hair, and a very thick Southern accent, shades of Les Grossman—that will be talked about the most. It’s a risky leap for him as an artist.
Other performers include John Goodman, reportedly a scene-stealer, as the US President, and he could finally land a much-deserved first Oscar nomination. The rest of the ensemble has Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sandra Hüller, Sophie Wilde, and Emma D’Arcy.
A full-length trailer is expected to debut online on July 13.
