Tom Cruise’s Digger Bombs opens at the box office; Hoover’s truth wins

Tom Cruise took a big turn with Excavator it didn’t pay off in its opening weekend at the box office, as the satirical black comedy became a major disappointment for Warner Bros.

Filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Excavator opened to $8 million in 3,300 North American theaters, which is hard to swallow for a feature film with a production budget of $125 million. (Reports say the budget came in closer to $180 million, a figure disputed by a studio representative.) That marks a disappointment even compared to the paltry $12 million to $15 million that Warner Bros. had screened ahead of the weekend and represents Cruise’s gentlest opening frame since the 2007 war drama. Lions for lambs launched at $6.7 million but on a much smaller budget. Excavator added $12 million internationally.

The film always seemed like a bold effort designed to spark conversation and, ideally, offer the prospect of rewards, as Cruise transformed himself into a bald, pot-bellied oil tycoon with a learn-he-caused-a-natural-disaster attitude. Awards buzz might prove hard to come by at this point, given that Excavator received a C+ CinemaScore from audiences, ranking among the lowest scores of Cruise’s career, and polarized critics. Its Rotten Tomatoes score from reviewers stands at 51% approval, with The Hollywood ReporterChief film critic David Rooney’s review deems it “dead and buried”.

A few weeks ago, third-party tracking services initially suggested that Excavator could open to over $30 million, but interest seemed to plummet in the 10 days leading up to its release. Excavator will be considered a significant financial loss for Warner Bros., marking an inauspicious final exit before Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion merger with the studio is finalized on October 6. News broke a few days ago that film bosses at Warner Bros. Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy left the studio, with Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein taking over. De Luca and Abdy’s impressive 2025 saw the release of famous Oscar winners One battle after another And Sinnerswhile the results for 2026 were much less stirring.

After this brief detour into the author’s fare which recalls Cruise’s previous projects like Born July 4 And Magnoliathe star will quickly return to the action and IP-driven films his audiences have come to expect, with Days of Thunder 2 soon relaunching production. On Saturday morning, Cruise said on social media that he remained “very proud of what we created” with Excavator.

First place in the national ranking goes to Amazon MGM Studios. Truthwhile the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel grossed $32.6 million from 3,510 North American locations. The audience was heavily female at 78 percent, while 38 percent of Truth’The population was aged 25 to 34.

It’s an encouraging start for filmmaker Michael Showalter’s $40 million thriller, which stars Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett. Among Hoover’s other adaptations, Truth’Launch falls short of expected $50 million It ends with us gross in 2024 but higher than the start of 2025 Regret you ($13.6 million) and 2026 Reminders of him ($17.9 million).

Truth’The critical response was much less lively. It was saddled with the same disappointing C+ CinemaScore as Excavator and holds a 34 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, with critic Richard Lawson writing for THR that it is a “literary failure”. Truth centers on a struggling writer, Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), who accepts a job ghostwriting for acclaimed author Verity Crawford (Hathaway).

“Truth’“Fandango’s debut is another win for female-led films at the box office,” said Shawn Robbins, Fandango’s chief analytics officer and founder of Box Office Theory. THR. “Following a string of eclectic openings last weekend, the adaptation adds to a healthy mix of content in theaters right now while adding to what has become a banner year for Anne Hathaway.”

Despite the Excavator On the other hand, this weekend is expected to generate a collective total of around $100 million nationally, according to Rentrak. This would increase the frame by around 16 percent compared to the equivalent weekend last year, when Taylor Swift: A Showgirl’s Official Release Party topped the North American chart with $34.1 million. The 2026 domestic box office is expected to reach $7.95 billion on Sunday, a 19% increase from the same 2025 level.

It still shows teeth since the finalist this weekend in its third image is that of Sony. resident Evilwhich raised $12.5 million to bring its domestic total to approximately $124.8 million. Austin Abrams is leading director Zach Cregger’s successful reboot of the video game property.

Paramount Heart of the Beast limited to $11 million in its second weekend for an estimated $38.3 million. David Ayer’s film stars Brad Pitt as a special forces officer stranded with his fighting dog in the wilderness.

A24 Prime timewhich was also in its second year, added $8 million to bring its national total to about $34 million. Robert Pattinson plays journalist Chris Hansen in Lance Oppenheim’s fact-based thriller which remains in a tight race with Excavator to claim No. 4 on the weekend, based on Monday’s actual numbers.

Lionsgate failed to crack the top 10 during its wide opening this weekend. Watch out for Boiúnawhich started slowly with around $550,000 from 1,121 North American theaters. Mike P. Nelson, who was chosen to direct the next Sawdirected Kiana Madeira and Jessica Rothe in the horror feature about a giant snake. Watch out for Boiúna has a review score of 55 on Rotten Tomatoes.

During the weekend, Disney’s Avengers: Endgame returned to No. 1 in the all-time global box office rankings. With his Avengers Endgame: Again re-release timed to build momentum for December Avengers: ApocalypseMarvel Studios’ 2019 hit reclaims the top spot it first achieved in the year of its release, when it initially surpassed 2009’s hit. Avatar. End of game fell to second place in the rankings two years later while Avatar’The 2021 re-release returned James Cameron’s blockbuster to No.1.

Additionally, Sony Spider-Man: A Whole New Day surpassed $2.5 billion globally over the weekend as its historic run comes to an end. Retaining third place worldwide of all time, the Tom Holland-led film’s worldwide gross of $2.506 billion gives Spidey the crown for highest-grossing feature film character, with Peter Parker’s films having topped $17.5 billion.

The Jessica Chastain-directed Chiller hits the big screen next weekend. Other mom and that of Aaron Sorkin The social balance sheet.