Tom Cruise's 'Digger' bombs, 'Verity' tops the box office Tom Cruise's 'Digger' failed spectacularly at the box office, earning only $8 million domestically and marking one of the actor's worst debuts. In contrast, Amazon MGM's 'Verity' opened strong with $32.6 million, continuing the success of film adaptations based on Colleen Hoover novels. NEW YORK (AP) - The satire 'Digger' flopped at the box office this weekend just as its studio, Warner Bros, is set to merge with Paramount. Digger Flops as Verity LeadsThis gives Tom Cruise one of the worst openings of his career and serves as a bitter final note for Warner Bros. as an independent studio. The top-grossing film, meanwhile, was Amazon MGM's 'Verity', another success for a film adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel. It debuted with $32.6 million. The film, directed by Michael Showalter, stars Dakota Johnson as a writer hired to ghostwrite a series of books for a disabled author (Anne Hathaway).But all eyes were on how 'Digger' would perform, one of the biggest bets of the year. Alejandro G. Iñárritu's critically panned satire earned a paltry $8 million domestically. Cruise is usually a big draw overseas, but international sales - $12 million across 74 markets - were also weak. After reviews so bad that Warner Bros. opted to air "judge for yourself" ads, estimates for 'Digger' had been revised downward over the past week.It's a tough start for a film that cost at least $125 million, though reports have placed the production budget closer to $150 million. The marketing spend, by estimates, was another $100 million.'Digger' was pitched as a potential contender for awards season, landing a release date almost exactly where Warner Bros. ' 'One Battle After Another' was last year. 'Digger' is a similarly political-charged release that put a big budget in the hands of a top-tier filmmaker working off an original story. But this attempt by Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Merger Nears CompletionMotion Picture Group co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy won't pan out like 'One Battle After Another'. That film earned $213.2 million worldwide and, more importantly, won the Oscar for Best Picture. The disappointing opening comes just as Paramount Skydance is finalizing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.After a judge approved the $110 billion deal on Wednesday, Paramount said it would close the merger on Tuesday. In a banner year for Hollywood, Warner Bros. has failed to have a single film clear $100 million domestically, though its December release 'Dune: Part III' will easily clear that figure. De Luca and Abdy are expected to leave Warner Bros. this week, and massive layoffs are likely to follow.'Digger bombed this weekend, and the new management of the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. - David Ellison and Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg - will soon be deciding what kind of movies they want from WB,' wrote film consultant David A. Gross, who publishes a newsletter on box-office figures.Criticism of Warner Bros. Film Strategy'Paramount does not have a recent track record of making big auteur movies like this; that strategy looks to be over,' he added. Critics (51% 'fresh' on Rotten Tomatoes) savaged 'Digger' as a forced farce about climate change, though Cruise's performance was received more warmly. Audiences agreed, giving it a 'C+' on CinemaScore.Cruise has spent most of the past decade starring in 'Mission: Impossible' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' films, franchises that have allowed him to remain an action hero at 64. The actor's last major box-office disappointment was 2017's 'The Mummy', which earned $409.2 million worldwide against a $195 million budget. To help sell 'Digger', Cruise went all out, even giving his first extensive magazine interview in years. A guilty Demián Bichir confronts a vengeful Salma Hayek in Angelina Jolie's new film.Last weekend's leading film, 'Avengers Endgame: Encore', dropped to seventh with $4.4 million domestically and $14.4 million overseas. But the second week of Marvel's re-release allowed 'Endgame' to just barely edge out 'Avatar' to reclaim the title of the highest-grossing film of all time, not counting inflation. The two movies have been swapping the spot over the past few years with re-releases. 'Endgame' now totals $2.9255 billion, while 'Avatar' stands at $2.9237 billion.