Affleck frames the backlash as a threat to artistic integrity, arguing that punishing risk-takers leads to a bland, franchise-dominated cinema landscape.
While Affleck defends the art, the internet is still crunching the numbers on what might be the most expensive flop in Warner Bros. history, with critics calling the defense tone-deaf.
Digger opened Oct. 2, 2026. It has a $160M+ production budget and $100M marketing spend, yet has only grossed $15M domestically. Variety reports a potential $245M loss for Warner Bros.
Affleck’s defense is a classic Hollywood move: protect the ego of the A-list by blaming the audience for not understanding 'ambition' when the math doesn’t add up.
Ben Affleck has stepped into the crossfire of Hollywood’s biggest box office disaster, and he’s not pulling any punches. The actor-director took to the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast to defend Tom Cruise’s latest vehicle, *Digger*, calling the public backlash a form of "high-school bullying." Affleck argued that audiences are celebrating the film's failure without even having seen it, describing the movie as "pretty ambitious" and made by "interesting people who have talent." His core argument?
If you punish movies that take risks, you’re going to get exactly what studios have been serving up for years: "a bunch of shitty homogenized movies." The financials, however, tell a different story than the one Affleck is painting. *Digger*, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, stars Cruise as an oil tycoon facing an apocalypse triggered by a malfunctioning rig in Antarctica. Since its October 2, 2026, release, the film has been a catastrophic financial failure.
With a production budget north of $160 million and a marketing spend pegged at $100 million, the film needed to hit $350 million globally just to break even. Instead, it has scraped together a mere $15 million at the domestic box office. Recent reports from Variety indicate that the film is set to lose Warner Bros. approximately $245 million, cementing its place as one of the most costly flops in studio history.
Despite the grim receipts, a faction of Hollywood’s elite is rallying around the film with fervor that borders on cult-like. Neil Young posted on his website that *Digger* is "the best film I have ever seen," dismissing negative reviews as missing the film’s "artful expression" and "radical change ups." Mandy Patinkin, the Tony-winning star of *Homeland*, went even further, labeling the movie an "instant classic" and "one of the greatest pieces of film I have ever seen in my entire life." He urged fans to "run" to see it, claiming it puts the "heart and soul back into the cinema." Anne Hathaway also joined the chorus on Letterboxd, giving the film a perfect 10/10 and describing it as "smart and trippy and aggressive." Affleck’s comments come at a time when the industry is deeply anxious about the dominance of IP-driven franchises.
By framing the criticism of *Digger* as an attack on artistic ambition, Affleck is tapping into a broader Hollywood narrative that blames audiences for preferring safe bets. However, with a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a box office return that barely covers the catering bill, the "bullying" defense feels less like a crusade for art and more like a desperate attempt to reframe a financial embarrassment as a misunderstood masterpiece. The studios might indeed make more "shitty" movies, but at least they won’t lose a quarter of a billion dollars doing it.
