Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ Trailer Has Only 4M Views as Warner Bros. Faces a Major Marketing Challenge

We all know Tom Cruise has star power, and he has the filmography to prove it — yet Showbiz411’s Roger Friedman has pointed out a red flag concerning Cruise’s next film.

“Digger,” a high-budgeted Warner Bros original, set to release in October, just isn’t creating much excitement among moviegoers. The YouTube trailer shows only 4.5M views for “Digger.”

Those are pretty bad numbers, especially when compared to other September and October movies, which have shown a lot more interest: “Other Mommy” (27M views), “Matchbox: The Movie” (7.8M), “Onslaught” (10M), “The Uprising” (17M), “Practical Magic” (19M), and the Brad Pitt-starring “Heart of the Beast” (27M).

Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu directs “Digger.” This is not Tom Cruise jumping off buildings or cliffs. It’s not an action movie. Instead, it’s the actor wearing heavy prosthetics, playing a cartoonish Texan tycoon who engulfs the world in catastrophe.

The trailer’s tone hints at political satire, and “Dr. Strangelove” will inevitably be cited as an influence, with its absurdist humor, apocalyptic stakes, and bumbling president. The symmetrical, striking visuals and quirky aesthetic also evoke the films of Roy Andersson. Whether Cruise’s prosthetics prove distracting remains to be seen. One thing is certain: Iñárritu and Cruise are taking a big creative swing here.

A Warner Bros. rep had already told Puck’s Matt Belloni that “Digger” cost $125M to produce, but Belloni was “suspicious,” saying he’s heard the final price tag was much higher. Meanwhile, Page Six Hollywood’s also had a Warner rep giving them the $125M figure, but a studio insider claimed the film was actually “pushing $200 million,” calling the situation “insane.”

This is yet another “One Battle After Another” situation for Warner Bros.—a film that will need strong reviews and Oscar attention to fully justify its existence. Know what? Taking out the business aspect and viewing on a purely artistic level, it’s great to see a major studio taking this kind of risk.

Warner Bros. will have to release a new trailer soon because the last one simply didn’t make a major impact online, outside of cinephile circles and industry circles. Cruise will also have to push the film hard; he recently held a heavily controlled, influencer-only promotional event for it.