John Goodman believes Digger was fighting an uphill battle long before audiences got the chance to see it. The Emmy-winning actor, who starred alongside Tom Cruise in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s new ambitious satire, has finally addressed the film’s disastrous reception. While its box office performance has been difficult to swallow, Goodman has no regrets about being part of the project.

For a film that promised to be one of Cruise’s most unconventional big-screen outings, the theatrical collapse has been particularly painful. However, Goodman believes the damage began with something audiences encountered before they ever bought a ticket.

John Goodman believes negative headlines maimed Digger even before theatrical release

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, John Goodman addressed the relentless negative coverage surrounding Digger and its commercial prospects. The actor did not mince words about how the pre-release conversation affected the film.

 “People are talking. It hurt. It kinda killed us before we even opened,” he said. 

He particularly remembered headlines predicting that the film would make as little as $5 million, adding that such coverage gave audiences a reason to avoid it.

However, the Roseanne and The Big Lebowski star is not distancing himself from the experience. Goodman said he was proud of the film and enjoyed the six months he spent making it, describing it as a huge creative swing that could find an audience over time. During the same podcast appearance, he admitted that negative reactions still affect him despite his decades in the industry. 

But there is a difference between a film that takes time to find its audience and one that struggles to recover its production costs. For Digger, the conversation has moved well beyond disappointing reviews and pre-release predictions. 

Tom Cruise’s Digger faces a staggering financial setback despite Hollywood support

The numbers explain why Digger has become such a difficult conversation for Warner Bros. The film opened with approximately $8 million domestically and $20 million worldwide. Its worldwide theatrical earnings have since reached only around $50 million, against reported production costs of $160 million to $180 million and an estimated $100 million marketing campaign. Industry estimates suggest the film could lose between $150 million and $200 million theatrically.

Yet Alejandro González Iñárritu  was never making a conventional Tom Cruise blockbuster. The director wanted to use the story of an oil tycoon triggering an environmental catastrophe to deliver an ambitious satire about power, responsibility, and the climate crisis. The project brought together an extraordinary filmmaking team and even reunited Cruise with an entirely different kind of leading role.

Hollywood has also rallied behind it, with Guillermo del Toro, Anne Hathaway, Jane Fonda, and Bill Burr publicly defending its creative ambition. For John Goodman, the box office is not necessarily the final verdict on a film. Whether Digger eventually finds its Big Lebowski moment remains to be seen. 

Do you think the film can still earn a second life with audiences, or was its theatrical fate sealed from the beginning? Share your thoughts in the comments.