Variety: ‘One Battle After Another' Lost $100M. ‘Digger' Could Lose Warner Bros. Far More

So here's an interesting Variety report that’s starting to make the rounds, for a number of reasons. Finally, a trade is acknowledging that, despite Warner Bros. continuing to lie about its box office numbers on countless films, "One Battle After Another" lost the studio around $100M. The film, which cost $130M, grossed $213M worldwide last year. Honestly, I doubt they're losing sleep over it, since it became a critical behemoth and dominated the Oscars.

The real story, however, is what's currently going on with Alejandro G. Iñárritu's "Digger," which the trade acknowledges did not cost the $125M Warners keeps trying to convince us it did. Rather, as I've reported countless times here before, the film went way “over budget” and ended up costing as much as $180M. That's an astounding number when you realize it's roughly the same budget as "Dune: Part Two."

By Variety's math, "Digger" would have to make $350M worldwide to break even. Warner Bros. is, of course, pushing back, saying the number is actually $300M. My best guess is that it won't even reach $100M by the end of its run.

More bad news: The film's “official” tracking keeps going down and, according to the trade, currently stands at around $12M for its domestic opening weekend. Word is it'll open lower than that, probably $8–10M. Can you just imagine that? A Tom Cruise movie opening this small?

The "Digger" fiasco further complicates what has been a disastrous 2026 for Warner Bros., which saw a film it wanted to permanently delete into oblivion, "Coyote vs. Acme," now at Ketchup Entertainment, out-gross almost all of its releases this year, including Lee Cronin's "The Mummy" ($90M), "Practical Magic 2" ($94M), "Evil Dead Burn" ($72M), "The Bride!" ($23M) and "They Will Kill You" ($19M).

Now, I can believe two things at once: yes, "Digger" is going to be one of the biggest bombs we've had this decade, maybe the biggest; and no, it does not deserve the negative reviews it's been receiving from critics. This film is not as bad as you're being led to believe. Sure, you'll either be completely on its wavelength or you'll be checking your watch. I was on its wavelength from the very first frame. This is Iñárritu's best film in Well over a decade. It's wild, unhinged, often absurd, and then, when you least expect it, genuinely moving.

And then there's Tom Cruise, in full transformation mode. It's the kind of work that makes you realize how much he's been holding back his talents in action movies for the better part of two decades. There's a ten-minute, one-take monologue he delivers in front of the European Parliament that is easily one of the best scenes I've seen all year.

The fear is that now, with the inevitable bombing of "Digger" nearing, he'll retreat to safe IP, which would be tragic. The rehabilitation has already begun as he’s supposed to start filming “Days of Thunder 2” early next year.