The Digger disaster: what a major movie flop means for Tom Cruise and Hollywood

@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https:The text you provided is CSS code defining web fonts, not prose, so there’s no natural-language meaning to preserve or simplify. It’s a series of @font-face rules that load Guardian Headline Full and Guardian Titlepiece fonts in various weights and styles (bold, black, light, regular, and their italics) from woff2, woff, and ttf files. If you’d like, I can reformat or explain this CSS, but I can’t rewrite it as fluent English without changing what it is.@font-face { font-family: Guardian Headline Full; src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”), url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”), url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”); font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; }

For the interactive content grid within article, comment, feature, and body sections, the layout uses a single column with no gap and arranges elements in this order: media, title, headline, standfirst, lines, meta, and body.

At screen widths of 30em and above, immersive figure captions are limited to a maximum width of 620px with 20px horizontal padding.

At 46.25em and above, the grid remains a single column with a 10px gap, but the order changes to: title, headline, standfirst, media, lines, meta, and body. The main content area gets 80px of right padding.

At 61.25em and above, the grid switches to two columns (620px and 300px). The title, headline, standfirst, media, lines, meta, and body all sit in the left column, with a right-hand column alongside. The main content’s right padding is removed.

At 71.25em and above, the grid uses four columns (140px, 1px, 620px, and 300px). A title column sits on the left, followed by a 1px border column, then the headline, standfirst, media, and body in the main column, with the right-hand column alongside. The standfirst’s bottom padding is set to zero.For interactive grid figures with immersive captions, add 4px of top padding. In interactive grids within article, comment, body, or feature sections, place lines and meta in grid area 2/1/5/2. Set lines to max-content height with a 5px top margin, and meta to an 18px top margin. At viewports 81.25em and wider, use grid columns of 219px, 1px, 620px, 80px, and 300px. On iOS and Android, style standfirst paragraphs with Guardian Headline at weight 500, display the article kicker section as a block with an uppercase first letter, add 12px top padding to keyline-4, and set byline authors to Guardian Headline at weight 700. Also on mobile, make image figure inner height auto and remove the top margin from paragraphs following atom figures. Define Guardian Headline Full light (300) and light italic fonts via woff2, woff, and ttf sources.@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline FulThis is CSS code that defines web fonts for the Guardian’s typography. It sets up several font faces:

– Guardian Headline in Black (weight 900, normal style)
– Guardian Headline Full in Black Italic (weight 900, italic)
– Guardian Titlepiece in Bold (weight 700, normal)
– Guardian Headline Full in Light (weight 300, normal)
– Guardian Headline Full in Light Italic (weight 300, italic)
– Guardian Headline Full in Regular (weight 400, normal)
– Guardian Headline Full in Regular Italic (weight 400, italic)
– Guardian Headline Full in Medium (weight 500, normal)

Each font face loads from three file formats (woff2, woff, and ttf) hosted on the Guardian’s asset server. The code appears to be cut off at the end, mid-way through another font face declaration.This is CSS code that defines font faces for Guardian Headline Full and Guardian Titlepiece, specifying various weights and styles with their source files in woff2, woff, and truetype formats. It also includes media queries that adjust the left margin of the interactive main column to 160px at a minimum width of 71.25em and to 240px at a minimum width of 81.25em, along with a selector for the element atom within the interactive main column.Here is the text rewritten in fluent, natural English while keeping the meaning intact and simplifying complex phrases:

“`css
{max-width:620px}

@media (max-width: 46.24em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:100%}
}

.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{margin-left:0}

@media (min-width: 46.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:620px}
}

@media (min-width: 71.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:860px}
}

.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1100px}

@media (max-width: 46.24em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{
width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));
position:relative;
left:50%;
right:50%;
margin-left:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width, 0px))!important;
margin-right:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width, 0px))!important
}
}

@media (min-width: 46.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{
transform:translate(-20px);
width:calc(100% + 60px)
}
}

@media (max-width: 71.24em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{
margin-left:0;
margin-right:0
}
}

@media (min-width: 71.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{
transform:translate(0);
width:auto
}
}

@media (min-width: 81.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1260px}
}

.content__main-column–interactive p,
.content__main-column–interactive ul{max-width:620px}

.content__main-column–interactive:before{
position:absolute;
top:0;
height:calc(100% + 15px);
min-height:100px;
content:””
}

@media (min-width: 71.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive:before{
border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;
z-index:-1;
left:-10px
}
}

@media (min-width: 81.25em){
.content__main-column–interactive:before{
border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;
left:-11px
}
}

.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{
margin-top:0;
margin-bottom:0;
padding-bottom:12px;
padding-top:12px
}

.content__main-column–interactive p+.element-atom{
padding-top:0;
padding-bottom:0;
margin-top:12px;
margin-bottom:12px
}

.content__main-column–interactive .element-inline{max-width:620px}

@media (min-width: 61.25em){
figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:620px}
}

[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop figcaption:not(.hidden){z-index:6}

[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop button[data-link-name*=gu-video-loop]{
align-self:flex-end;
margin-bottom:40px;
margin-right:3px
}

[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop .controls-container div:has(button[data-testid=unmute-icon]),
[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop .controls-container div:has(button[data-testid=mute-icon]){
right:0;
padding-left:10px
}

[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) #caption-button{z-index:100}

@media (min-width: 61.25em){
[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) #caption-button{bottom:20px}
}

@media (min-width: 46.25em){
[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.cinemagraph) .cinemagraph>div{max-height:unset}
}

[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]{
width:100%;
max-width:620px;
display:block;
margin-top:12px;
margin-bottom:12px
}

[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo] figure.loop,
[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo] figure.loop video{
width:100%;
height:auto;
max-width:620px;
margin:0 auto
}

[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive){
max-width:unset;
margin:12px 0
}

[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive) figure.loop,
[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive) figure.loop video{
max-width:unset;
margin:0
}

@media (min-width: 71.25em){
[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive){
width:1140px;
margin-left:-180px
}
[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive) figure figcaption{
margin-left:20px
}
}

@media (min-width: 81.25em){
[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive){
width:1300px;
margin-left:-260px
}
}

:root{
–dateline: #606060;
–headerBorder: #dcdcdc;
–captionText: #999;
–captionBackground: hsla(0, 0%, 7%, .72);
–feature: #c70000;
–new-pillar-colour: var(–primary-pillar, var(–feature))
}
“`:root:root{–subheading-text: var(–secondary-pillar);–pullquote-text: var(–secondary-pillar);–pullquote-icon: var(–secondary-pillar);–block-quote-text: var(–article-text)}:root:root blockquote{–block-quote-fill: var(–secondary-pillar)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]){–subheading-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–pullquote-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–pullquote-icon: var(–darkmode-pillar)}:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]) blockquote{–block-quote-fill: var(–darkmode-pillar)}}.content__main-column–interactive .element.element-atom,.element.element-atom{padding:0}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+.element-atom+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content__main-column–interactive hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,.content__main-column–interactive hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+.ad-slot-container+p,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.element-atom+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#article-body>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+.ad-slot-container+p,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.element-atom+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,.content–interactive>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+.ad-slot-container+p,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.element-atom+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[name=UnsafeEmbedBlockComponent])+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+.ad-slot-container+p,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+figure:has(gu-island[naThis CSS selector targets the first paragraph after various elements—such as an embedded atom, a sign-in gate, or a horizontal rule—within the article body, feature body, or interactive content containers. It applies 14px of top padding to those paragraphs, and for interactive content, it also styles the first letter of the paragraph.The provided text is CSS code, not prose, so it cannot be rewritten into fluent English without changing its meaning. If you’d like, I can explain what the CSS selectors and rules do in plain English.Here is the text rewritten in fluent, natural English:

For figcaptions inside showcase elements within the main content, feature article, standard article, and comment article containers, the position is set to static with a width of 100% and a maximum width of 620px. At viewports 71.25em and wider, these figcaptions become absolutely positioned with a maximum width of 140px. At 81.25em and wider, the maximum width increases to 220px.

Immersive elements are sized to the full viewport width, minus any scrollbar width. Below 71.25em, immersive elements have a maximum width of 978px, and their figcaptions use 10px of inline padding. Between 30em and 71.24em, that inline padding increases to 20px. Between 46.25em and 61.24em, immersive elements have a maximum width of 738px. Below 46.25em, they are shifted left by 10px with no right margin. Between 30em and 46.24em, the left shift becomes 20px and figcaptions use 20px of inline padding.

At 71.25em and wider, showcase figures inside the body area (including the interactive main column) are shifted left by 160px. At 81.25em and wider, that shift increases to 240px.

At 61.25em and wider, the furniture wrapper uses a grid layout with 20px column gaps, no row gaps, and a defined set of named grid lines spanning title, headline, meta, standfirst, and portrait areas across two rows. Within this wrapper, the first child of the headline gets a 1px top border in the header border color. The meta section is relatively positioned with 2px of top padding and no right margin. Standfirst content has a 4px bottom margin, and list items in the standfirst use a 20px font size. Links within the standfirst have no bottom border or background image; instead they are underlined with a 6px offset, a 1px thickness, and the header border color (defaulting to #dcdcdc).[data-gu-name=standfirst] a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder);padding-bottom:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em) and (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:unset}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper figure{margin:0 0 0 -10px}.furniture-wrapper figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:630px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(2,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(7,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] 80px [title-end headline-start] auto [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] auto [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{content:””;width:540px;position:absolute;top:0;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:1px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{border-top:unset}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{content:””;width:1px;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:100%;position:absolute;top:0;left:.5px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(3,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(8,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{width:620px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{left:-.5px}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels>div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels>div{padding-top:2px}.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{font-weight:600;max-width:620px;font-size:32px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{max-width:540px;font-size:50px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines]{margin-right:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines]{display:none}}.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4 svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] svg{stroke:var(–headerBorder)}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper #meta,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]{margin-right:0}}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__comment,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__comment{border-color:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .content__meta-container_dcr>div>gu-island,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .content__meta-container_dcr>div>gu-island{display:none}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{margin-left:-10px;padding-left:10px;position:relative}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{padding-top:2px}}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=stanp{font-weight:400;font-size:20px;padding-bottom:14px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{position:relative;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2px;grid-area:portrait}.furniture-wrapper #main-media div div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] div div{width:100%;margin-inline:0}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{margin-bottom:0}}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:-10px}}@media (max-width: 46.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{margin-left:-20px}}.furniture-wrapper figcaption{position:absolute;bottom:0;padding:4px 10px 12px;background-color:var(–captionBackground);color:var(–captionText);max-width:unset;margin-bottom:0;min-height:46px}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span{color:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span svg{fill:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(1){display:none}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(2){display:inline;max-width:90%}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper figcaption{padding:4px 20px 12px}}.furniture-wrapper figcaption.hidden{opacity:0}.furniture-wrapper #caption-button{display:block;position:absolute;bottom:10px;right:8px;z-index:30;background-color:var(–captionBackground);border:none;border-radius:50%;padding:6px 5px 5px}.furniture-wrapper #caption-button svg{transform:scale(.85)}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper #caption-button{right:10px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{top:-12px!important;height:calc(100% + 24px)!important}}.content__main-column–interactive h2{max-width:620px}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]){–follow-text: #dcdcdc;–follow-icon-fill: var(–darkmode-pillar);–standfirst-text: #dcdcdc;–standfirst-link-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–standfirst-link-border: var(–darkmode-pillar);–byline: var(–darkmode-pillar)}}.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst div p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst div p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] div p{font-weight:500}:root body{–weekend-essay-bg: #fff4f2;background:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2);–article-section-background: var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2);–sub-meta-background: var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)}[data-gu-name=lines]{display:none}.furniture-wrapper{position:relative}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] .3fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title]{position:relative;height:70px}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels{height:inherit}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after{content:””;display:block;width:70px;height:70px;background-image:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1791480673/book.gif);background-size:contain;background-position:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;position:absolute;bottom:0;right:0}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after{width:110px;height:110px}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels>div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels>div{height:100%}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels>div:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels>div:after{content:””;display:block;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:1px;background-color:#dcdcdc;position:absolute;bottom:0;left:-10px}@media (min-wThis CSS code defines responsive styles for a news article layout, adjusting elements like headers, headlines, and standfirsts across different screen sizes. It sets specific heights, margins, and font sizes for various breakpoints, and includes hover effects for headline links..content__meta-container_dcr gu-island[name=Branding], .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .content__meta-container_dcr gu-island[name=Branding] { display: block; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] { position: relative; }

@media (min-width: 61.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] { grid-area: portrait; }
}

.furniture-wrapper #main-media > div, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] > div { position: relative; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media div + span, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] div + span { display: block; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure { height: 100%; margin-left: 10px; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img, .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption { width: calc(100vw – 40px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)); height: auto; margin-left: 10px; padding: 10px 0; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption { margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 10px; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before { content: “”; display: block; width: calc(100vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)); background-image: url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1791480673/frame.png); background-size: contain; background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 10px; height: inherit; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph div:first-of-type, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph div:first-of-type { background: transparent; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph video, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph video { width: 92%; margin: 16px 8px 0; }

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph figcaption { margin-bottom: 12px; width: 93%; margin-left: 2px; }

@media (min-width: 23.4375em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph video, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph video { width: 94%; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph figcaption { margin-bottom: 12px; width: 91%; margin-left: 9px; }
}

@media (min-width: 46.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure { margin-left: 0; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img { width: 670px; height: auto; margin-left: 5px; padding: 15px 10px; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before { width: 700px; left: -10px; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption { width: 650px; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 15px 10px; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph video, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph video { width: 96%; margin: 18px 6px 0; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph figcaption { width: 96%; margin-left: 6px; margin-bottom: 17px; }
}

@media (min-width: 61.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before { width: 470px; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img, .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption { width: 450px; margin-left: 0; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img { padding: 10px 0; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption { margin-bottom: 10px; }
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.cinemagraph video, .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure.cinemagraph video { margin: 10px 6px 0; }
}

.furniture-wraAt 71.25em and wider, the main media figure and media figure get a width of 550px. Images inside the figure picture are 520px wide with a 5px left margin and 10px 5px padding. Figcaptions are 510px wide with a 10px left margin and 10px bottom margin. For cinemagraph figures, videos get a 12px 6px 0 margin, and figcaptions get a 6px left margin and 15px bottom margin.

At 81.25em and wider, the figure width increases to 630px. Images are 600px wide with 15px 0 padding. Figcaptions are 600px wide with a 5px left margin and 15px bottom margin. Cinemagraph videos get a 16px 8px 0 margin, and figcaptions get an 8px left margin.

The caption button is positioned 15px from the right and 20px from the bottom. At 46.25em and wider, it moves to 45px from the right and 30px from the bottom. At 61.25em and wider, it returns to 15px from the right and 20px from the bottom. At 71.25em and wider, it is 20px from the right. At 81.25em and wider, it is 30px from the bottom.

When a cinemagraph is present, the caption button is 20px from the right. At 46.25em and wider, it is 35px from the right and 25px from the bottom. At 61.25em and wider, it is 25px from the right and 20px from the bottom. At 71.25em and wider, it is 25px from the bottom.

The no-media-div is a flex container that centers its content horizontally and vertically at full width. Its paragraph text is 24px, weight 500, line-height 115%, colored with the byline anchor variable, bold, underlined, and displayed as a block.

At 71.25em and wider, the interactive main column has no left margin, and its before pseudo-element is hidden. A supporting aside containing a blockquote gets a background color of #fff4f2. The first letter of the first paragraph in the interactive main column is weight 300. The first letter of a paragraph following an hr, a paragraph following a progress-bar-wrapper, and a paragraph with the drop-cap class use the Guardian Headline font family.The text you provided is CSS code, not prose, so there’s no natural-language meaning to preserve or simplify. If you meant to paste an article or paragraph, please share that text and I’ll rewrite it in fluent, natural English.The fanfare at Digger’s world premiere in London four weeks ago was literal. As the Prince and Princess of Wales took to the stage, their arrival was announced by the fanfare team of the Irish Guards band—bugles gleaming, epaulets shining, bearskin bonnets rippling under the lights. Given the occasion, the band were not overdressed. Joining William (velvet tux) and Kate (chiffon gown, the late Diana’s earrings) to introduce the film was cinema’s longest-reigning monarch, Tom Cruise (Armani), along with a retinue including director Alejandro González Iñárritu and co-stars Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Jesse Plemons and Michael Stuhlbarg. Loyal courtiers filled the front rows: Salma Hayek, Hannah Waddingham and no fewer than three Beckhams (David, Cruz and Romeo). The film itself started two hours late, thanks to Cruise’s trademark perfectionism with red carpet selfies and autographs. But no one minded much. If anyone has earned the right to keep 800 people waiting as babysitter fees mount and they lose all feeling in their legs, it is surely the one remaining unassailable movie star, that most grinning and irresistible enigma, the man who “saved Hollywood’s ass” when Top Gun: Maverick tempted people back to multiplexes after two years of Covid.

View image in fullscreenPrince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Tom Cruise attend the Digger world premiere in London. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Warner Bros

At 11pm, when the lights came up, the mood was different. There was unease. Applause, too, of course, but also murmurings and scurries for the exit, only slightly hampered by pins and needles. Could it be that this hottest of tickets was actually a stone cold turkey? The world premiere turned out to be the high point of Digger’s theatrical run. When the film opened worldwide a week later, reeling from almost universally horrified reviews, the box office was appalling—and things went downhill from there. Digger made $8m over its first weekend in the US, before dropping 60% for its second. Its international opening was even worse: $12m across 74 territories, for a per-country average of $162k. So far, Digger has made $37.7m. Estimates suggest a final haul of $50m. Its costs were … higher. Originally budgeted at $125m, production on the six-month shoot spiralled to about $175m. A further $100m was spent on marketing. Given that cinemas retain around half of ticket sales revenue, the film would appear to need to make $350m to break even (though Warner Bros puts the number at closer to $300m). These numbers are complicated further by Cruise’s “first-dollar” deal, which means initial takings are diverted straight to him, rather than the studio. Digger’s predicted $245m loss catapults it straight into the upper echelons of the most costly flops of all time, alongside 1995 swashbuckler Cutthroat Island ($222m loss, adjusted for inflation), 2018 steampunk dud Mortal E…engines ($224m adjusted) and the doomed Captain America spin-off The Marvels (whose estimated adjusted losses range between $205m and $250m). In some sense, Digger has already performed worse than all three. Before release, no one had high hopes for any of them – yet they still managed to make at least double what Digger is expected to take in. No one expected Cutthroat Island to upend our ideas about what a big-budget satire could be. Or that Hugo Weaving’s turn in Mortal Engines would make him a shoo-in for the Oscars. But Digger is unique: an unprecedented folly of misjudgment, bad timing and spectacular hubris.

View image in fullscreenDigger’s predicted loss catapults it into the upper echelons of the most costly flops of all time. Photograph: Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures

To dig into Digger’s fatal flaw, it helps to go back to its roots. The idea for its central character – a boorish billionaire oil magnate whose drilling in the Arctic triggers an eco-catastrophe – came to Iñárritu, the Mexican film-maker who broke through with Amores Perros, in 2015. At the time, he was working on The Revenant – another expensive ($165m) epic built around a big, meaty performance, in that case from Leonardo DiCaprio, who, playing a frontiersman on the run, waded through a frozen river, ate raw bison liver, climbed inside a horse’s carcass – and duly won an Oscar. At the same ceremony, Iñárritu also won best director, making him the third person ever to do so in consecutive years, having triumphed in 2014 with the splashy theatrics of Birdman.

Iñárritu has said he didn’t initially pursue Digger because, despite becoming obsessed with the character, he “wasn’t looking for a story” (ominous words, in hindsight). But after The Revenant’s success, he began to develop the concept with Netflix as a vehicle for DiCaprio, under the working title Blah, Blah, Blah (ominous klaxon #2). Then someone at the streamer noticed they already had a pricey eco-dramedy with Leonardo DiCaprio in the works in the form of Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up – the failure of which completes a quick ominous hat-trick – and Digger was dropped. So Iñárritu busied himself instead with Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths: an almost three-hour, black-and-white, existential semi-autobiographical vanity project of the kind only the most recently gilded of directors would have the indulgence to realise. Few people saw it, fewer still liked it.

Meanwhile, Cruise, glowing from his recent canonisation as the saviour of cinema, was looking for films to broaden his portfolio beyond action franchises such as Top Gun and Mission: Impossible. Perhaps recalling the delighted horror that met his fat-suited cameo in Tropic Thunder as repellant studio head Les Grossman, he reached out to Iñárritu, and they began work in 2022. The shoot began in late 2024, on 35mm, filmed in Vista Vision – which is, for the avoidance of doubt, magnificently expensive.

This time last year, the film was in post-production, and Cruise was in Los Angeles receiving an honorary Oscar – his first ever Academy Award. His emotional speech detailed a lifetime devoted to the craft. “Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,” he told the crowd. The man to give him the statuette? Iñárritu. The auguries were obvious: if ever a movie were to win Cruise his first Oscar proper, this would be the man who would hand it to him.

View image in fullscreenAlejandro González Iñárritu is only the third person ever to win the Oscar for best director in consecutive years. Photograph: Rodrigo Reyes Marin/AFLO/Shutterstock

Did anyone notice during production that Digger was awful? Or that enough people were likely to loathe it that the film would be a fiasco? If so, they were either cowed or buoyed by the confidence of the two men at its helm. Plus, says Steven Gaydos, former executive editor of Variety, for the past decade or so, this kind of reckless endeavour has been standard industry practice: “Digger is just the latest Hollywood supertanker art film to“go down.” He traces the origins of that trend to streamers’ pre-pandemic eagerness to write blank cheques for directors who might lend them credibility. Auteurs signed up quickly, but the lack of oversight or guardrails—the very terms that made the deal attractive—meant their movies often pleased only themselves. Sometimes the strategy (since abandoned at Netflix) sort of worked. Neither Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma nor Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, or David Fincher’s Mank won Netflix the coveted best picture Oscar, but they came close. Often, it was more obviously unsuccessful. Gaydos highlights the $175m Netflix sank into Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in 2019, and then the $200m Apple gave him in 2022 for Killers of the Flower Moon. “Again,” says Gaydos, “beaucoup Oscar nominations, no wins.” View image in fullscreen Babylon was a critical flop that “missed recoupment by $135m.” Photograph: Scott Garfield/AP Meanwhile, traditional studios, spooked by streamers’ dominance, copied the playbook—including the fallout. After awards glory with Whiplash and La La Land, Damien Chazelle saddled Paramount with Babylon, a critical flop that, says Gaydos, “missed recoupment by $135m.” After sweeping the Oscars with Parasite, Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 repeated the trick at Warner Bros, sinking $200m. That studio’s record with the Hollywood supertanker art film isn’t all bad: last year they lost $150m on another VistaVision whopper, but at least Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another won them lots of Oscars, including best picture. And at that stage Warners could absorb the hit, with its coffers flooded by the likes of Sinners, The Minecraft Movie, and F1. This time around, there was no blockbuster safety net—hence, says Gaydos, “this supertanker might have sunk the studio’s chiefs Michael de Luca and Pam Abdy.” The studio’s final release before its Paramount Skydance takeover was such an unqualified disaster that incoming owner David Ellison’s first move was to fire them both. Before the merger, many had voiced concerns about the kinds of projects the new super-studio might greenlight. Now they know: Ellison’s appetite for new ideas and original IP will have shrunk even further. “Overspending on art has never been a winning strategy in Hollywood,” says Gaydos. “But no one’s ever seen the scale of these recent maydays and the oceans of red ink the supertanker art films have left in their wake.” View image in fullscreen Tom Cruise, left, and Riz Ahmed in a scene from Digger. Photograph: Warner Bros Pictures/AP Of all the injured parties emerging from the wreckage of Digger—save perhaps De Luca and Abdy—Cruise is the most mortally wounded. He’s had misfires before: 2017’s The Mummy lost $95m but still grossed over $400m. The only conclusions to be drawn will be chastening for a man who would have assumed he was appreciated as much as an artist as a preternaturally youthful pensioner with a fierce commitment to near-fatal stunts and taking his top off. Yet clearly, it seems, people do not go to a Tom Cruise movie to see him act. They go to see a movie star. Yes, he wore prosthetics in Tropic Thunder, but you could still see the man beneath the mask, and he wasn’t in it for long anyway. In Digger, the layers of rubber are so thick it might as well be anyone beneath them. Aside from riding a motorbike off a cliff, Cruise’s fans do not want him to take risks, nor to indulge in the level of belligerent insanity both he and his character display here, which serves as an uncomfortable reminder of the Oprah sofa-jumping years. They also want him to be the good guy. In Top Gun and, especially, Mission: Impossible, he’s a quasi-Messiah: the only man able to save the world. In Digger, he plays the only man able to destroy it. That’s the opposite of what Cruise’s fanbase wants. Yet beyond Cruise’s usual acolytes, there are plenty of people who might well have been keen to seeIf they had known what it really was—an ambitious, meta-textual liberal satire about collective responsibility for ecological collapse—things might have been different. Unfortunately, all the film’s promotion worked to suppress this, partly because explaining it would require revealing a key plot spoiler. Instead, the marketing focused on the star’s transformation, teasing Digger’s enormous belly and obnoxious hectoring. The filmmakers were so confident in the film’s pre-sold appeal that they forgot to actually sell it. By the time reviews came out, the marketing had to scramble. A new campaign quoted both negative and positive reviews, then urged audiences to ignore the critics and judge for themselves. Retrospectively framing a movie’s divisiveness as intentional isn’t necessarily a bad plan. But the strategy inevitably recalled Francis Ford Coppola’s $125m disaster Megalopolis in 2024, which further sabotaged itself by attributing made-up quotes to real critics. It was an unfortunate association, and within days Digger’s ads had pivoted again, suddenly telling viewers they should pay attention to the critics after all—because although US reviewers were lukewarm, the French really liked it.

By then, the confusion didn’t matter. Only the morbidly curious could be tempted into cinemas. Word of mouth did its own work too: Digger’s CinemaScore (which records audience reactions on US opening night) was C+. That’s considerably lower than the new Paw Patrol movie (A) and worse even than the new Mark Zuckerberg drama The Social Reckoning (B+), whose own poor box office further suggests people aren’t automatically eager to spend their weekends watching supersized billionaires do dreadful things.

Tom Cruise’s Digger has flopped spectacularly—but I think it’s a misunderstood masterpiece. Cruise may still quietly campaign for an Oscar nomination—the cost would be small change compared with the losses already incurred. In a year of standout performances from the likes of Andrew Scott (Elsinore) and John Malkovich (Wild Horse Nine), victory is all but impossible, but Cruise and company may still calculate that some acknowledgment from his peers might help soften the blow—and vindicate everyone’s decision-making.

And there are early signs that the scale of Digger’s disaster may actually work in its favor. After all, this isn’t some Bardo-like damp squib destined to be a footnote in a book no one ever reads. This is a movie whose title is already synonymous with astonishing folly. An apparently grassroots lobby is building a compelling case for Digger as a cult classic in the making. Celebrities have come forward to champion it—and not just partisan ones like Anne Hathaway, set to star with Cruise in the upcoming Days of Thunder sequel, who gave it 10/10 on Letterboxd, or Glen Powell—whom Cruise mentored on Top Gun: Maverick—who called it “pure cinematic joy.” Jane Fonda campaigned at length for the film on Instagram, calling Cruise “very good and very brave.” “Daring, bold and cinematically complex,” added Guillermo del Toro. Neil Young named it “the best film I have ever seen.” Meanwhile, commemorative programs from that world premiere—still less than a month ago—are already fetching considerable sums on eBay, with one listing proudly describing the “highly sought-after collectable” as “brand new and unread.” Digger, it seems, is unlikely to stay buried forever.

Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs The Digger Disaster What a Major Movie Flop Means for Tom Cruise and Hollywood

1 What is The Digger
Its a bigbudget movie starring Tom Cruise that reportedly flopped badly at the box office losing far more money than it made

2 What exactly happened
The film cost a huge amount to make and market but sold very few tickets so it failed to earn back its budget

3 What counts as a flop
A movie is usually called a flop when its box office earnings dont cover its production and marketing costs

4 Why does one flop matter so much for Tom Cruise
Cruise is one of the last stars whose name alone sells tickets A failure raises doubts about whether his star power still guarantees an audience

5 Does this mean Tom Cruises career is over
Almost certainly not Big stars have had flops before and bounced back One bad movie rarely ends a career

6 Whats a box office and why does it matter
Box office is the money a movie earns from ticket sales Its the main measure of whether a film succeeded

7 What is a budget vs marketing cost
The budget is what it costs to make the film Marketing cost is whats spent promoting it A movie must earn back both to break even

8 Why do studios care so much about opening weekends
A strong opening weekend signals the movie will keep selling tickets A weak opening often means the film will lose money

9 What does this mean for Hollywood studios
Its a warning that spending huge sums on stardriven films is risky Studios may become more cautious about big budgets

10 Will Hollywood stop making bigbudget movies
Probably not entirely but studios may take fewer risks and rely more on proven franchises and safer bets

11 What are common problems that cause big movies to flop
Oversized budgets weak marketing bad reviews poor release timing and competition from other films

12 How do streaming and short theater windows affect flops
Shorter theater runs and fast streaming releases can reduce ticket sales making it harder for expensive films to break even

13 Whats the difference between a flop and a bomb
Both mean

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