An opening weekend of eight million dollars in the US is a tough blow for an auteur-driven yet costly film like Digger: the visionary and grotesque movie starring Tom Cruise, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, appears to have been almost overlooked by audiences, having just surpassed twenty million worldwide. A guest on the podcast “On Film With Kevin McCarthy,” in a conversation that took place while the feature had not yet premiered (though forecasts were already offering little hope), Cruise vented about the clash between the new box office rules and the ability of a compelling film to leave a lasting mark, regardless. Here’s what he said.
Digger, Tom Cruise invites us to move beyond the opening-weekend dictatorship
In a cinematic market that burnishes through feature films quickly, with streaming releases at 90 days in most cases, a solid first-weekend result has become virtually indispensable to ensure that a work isn’t torn down from theaters immediately. Digger, the Alejandro González Iñárritu project, is taking this risk—a bold endeavor from the former Warner Bros. Pictures leadership, of which Tom Cruise is, as always, not only a performer but also a convinced and motivated co-producer. The man who at sixty years old has revitalized an 80s brand, bringing in over $1.5 billion worldwide with Top Gun: Maverick, won’t feel humbled by such a stumble, will he? It depends on what we mean by “stumble,” because from his point of view the real disappointment would be having participated in a project he didn’t believe in. And this isn’t the case, because he says: “When I make a film I don’t rush into the obsession with ‘How much did it make in the opening weekend?’ I’d rather think about building a piece of cinema that lasts over time.” […] Films transcend… you can only hope to make a film that lasts. A lot can happen at release. I have been lucky to act in the eighties and nineties, when a movie stayed in theaters for a year. Rain Man or Born on the Fourth of July could continue to be screened for a year. The question is: how can I make a film that can transform, endure, and evolve? I feel that Digger is one of those films.”
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