Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson’s “Verity” opened at No. 1 this weekend with $32.6 million in North America. Tom Cruise’s “Digger” limped into fifth place with $8 million, his worst opening in 19 years.
“Verity” cost about $40 million to make and earned $62.5 million worldwide in its first weekend. That’s the second-best debut for a Colleen Hoover adaptation, behind “It Ends With Us,” which opened to $50 million in 2024.
Critics weren’t kind to it, and audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore. Hoover fans showed up anyway. Women made up 78% of the opening weekend crowd, a reminder that the readers who turned Hoover into a BookTok phenomenon still buy movie tickets.
“Digger” had a rougher weekend. Alejandro G. Iñárritu directed the satire, which stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon trying to undo an environmental disaster he caused. Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman and Jesse Plemons co-star.
It pulled in just $20 million globally. TheWrap reports the film stands to lose Warner Bros. at least $150 million, a hit that lands the same week the studio’s parent company officially became part of Skydance. It also earned a C+ CinemaScore.
Tracking services had “Digger” opening around $30 million a few months ago. Some critics blamed its cryptic marketing, which left casual moviegoers unsure what kind of movie they were paying for.
Cruise doesn’t seem rattled, at least publicly. On the “On Film With Kevin McCarthy” podcast, released the day “Digger” opened, he said he doesn’t make movies with opening weekend in mind. “You hope to make a film that can last,” he said.
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He and Hathaway will share a set soon enough. The two are set to start shooting “Days of Thunder 2” together in March, according to Gold Derby.
