Actor and director Ben Affleck is pushing back against the public mockery surrounding the commercial failure of “Digger,” warning that ridiculing creative gambles will prompt studios to turn out bland, formulaic entertainment.
Speaking on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast on Monday, Affleck addressed the harsh reception greeting the big-budget climate satire directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and starring Tom Cruise. He compared the gleeful reaction to the movie’s financial struggles to schoolyard bullying, pointing out that many people passing judgment had never actually watched it.
“Everybody wants to celebrate this bomb as if it’s the most exciting thing to happen, and you think like, it’s a pretty ambitious, interesting movie made by interesting people that have talent,” Affleck said during the interview. He cautioned that scrutinizing every loss penalizes artistic boldness. “If you punish movies that take risks, guess what you’re going to get? A bunch of shitty, homogenized movies,” he added, noting that taking large creative leaps inherently carries the chance of stumbling.
A Costly Stumble at the Box Office
“Digger,” which stars Cruise as an oil executive grappling with global catastrophe following an Antarctic drilling disaster, opened in theaters on Oct. 2 to lukewarm critical reactions and an indifferent general audience. The release earned an estimated $8 million domestically over its debut weekend.
Accounts differ slightly regarding the movie’s total opening footprint. The Hollywood Reporter and The Mirror US cited a $12 million tally outside the domestic market, whereas Deadline reported a $20 million worldwide start alongside a C+ CinemaScore from opening-night audiences. According to Variety, the film had accumulated only $15 million domestically in the weeks following its debut, carrying a 53 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The financial fallout appears severe. Variety reported that the movie carried a production budget exceeding $160 million alongside an estimated $100 million marketing spend, leaving Warner Bros. facing potential losses near $245 million. Deadline previously estimated the total loss could reach approximately $150 million.
Critics offered sharply divided opinions. In a scathing review for The Hollywood Reporter, chief film critic David Rooney described the production as an exercise in unchecked vanity, characterizing Cruise’s performance as abrasive and calling the project a heavy-handed, self-indulgent narrative about climate crisis politics.
Creative Voices Rally Around the Film
Despite the commercial rejection, a growing circle of prominent artists has rallied to champion Iñárritu’s work. Ben Affleck, who stars in the upcoming project “Animals,” is one of several industry veterans urging moviegoers to reconsider the film on its artistic merits rather than its receipts.
Actor Anne Hathaway publicly praised the release on the social platform Letterboxd, awarding it a top score even though her own thriller, “Verity,” outperformed “Digger” during their shared opening frame. Hathaway called the movie brilliant, ambitious and sharp, encouraging viewers to assess it without outside influence.
Musician Neil Young also published an enthusiastic essay on his personal website, calling the production an artful reflection of modern political tensions rather than standard commercial product. Similarly, stage and screen actor Mandy Patinkin described the film as a modern classic, urging movie lovers to seek it out in theaters while they still can.
Whether such vocal endorsements can lift the movie out of its commercial trough remains doubtful, but the debate has reignited broader questions across Hollywood about whether studios will continue financing expensive, auteur-led original stories.
