Tom Cruise’s Digger has started its theatrical run with a slow opening in India and overseas. The film released in theatres on Friday and recorded Rs 62 lakh net and Rs 69 lakh gross in India on Day 1, according to the India box office tracker data provided. The film recorded these collections from 579 shows and registered an overall occupancy of 15.6%, as per trade tracker Sacnilk. The weekend will now be important for the film as it looks to improve its collections after the slow start and deal with competition from other releases.
The advance booking numbers had shown some interest ahead of the release. Digger recorded Rs 1.12 crore in advance bookings in India for its first six days, with 30,607 tickets sold across 1,945 shows. After blocked seats were excluded, the advance collection stood at Rs 51.08 lakh.
Day 1 recorded the highest advance collection at Rs 34.23 lakh, followed by Day 2 at Rs 28.84 lakh and Day 3 at Rs 26.78 lakh. The October 1 premiere recorded Rs 22.15 lakh, while Days 4, 5 and 6 recorded advance bookings of Rs 18.85 lakh, Rs 9.02 lakh and Rs 2.24 lakh, respectively. These figures indicate that the film had bookings ahead of its release, although that interest did not translate into a strong Day 1 opening.
The film has also recorded a slow start in North America. Digger earned $1.2 million from Thursday previews, while Deadline has projected an opening of under $10 million domestically and less than $20 million worldwide. This is below Warner Bros.’ initial $12 million to $15 million estimate.
The film reportedly has a production budget of $180 million. Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Digger stars Tom Cruise as wealthy oil tycoon Digger Rockwell and actor Curtis. The story begins with an environmental crisis involving a huge iceberg heading towards Europe before revealing that the events are part of a stage play called Fossil Fools. The cast also includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Sandra Hüller. The film has a runtime of 2 hours and 11 minutes and carries an A certification in India.
