Ben Affleck defends Tom Cruise's Digger, warns attacks on risk will bring worse movies
Ben Affleck has jumped to the defence of Tom Cruise's Digger, warning that if audiences punish films that take risks, studios will respond with "shitty homogenized movies."
Affleck made the comments in an interview reported by Variety on Oct. 15, 2026. He was speaking up for a big-budget gamble that has struggled to find an audience.
Digger was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and stars Cruise as an oil tycoon confronting the end of the world. A rig malfunction in Antarctica sends ice caps toward Europe, according to Variety.
The numbers are stark. The film has earned $15 million at the domestic box office, meaning the United States and Canada, since opening on Oct. 2, Variety reported. Its production budget was north of $160 million, with a marketing spend pegged at $100 million, leaving it needing about $350 million in theatres to break even.
Variety reported the film is losing Warner Bros. around $245 million, which would place it among the most costly losses in studio history. The film holds 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, the review-aggregation site.
Affleck said much of the backlash felt unfair. He described it as "a little bit like the high-school bullying thing, with people who hadn't even seen movies."
He argued that ambitious films will sometimes fail in public. "You cannot do something interesting without taking a big swing. And that means you're going to sometimes look bad," he said.
Then came his warning to the industry. "If you punish movies that take risks, guess what you're going to get? A bunch of shitty homogenized movies," Affleck said.
He is not the film's only high-profile supporter. Musician Neil Young called it "the best film I have ever seen." Actor Mandy Patinkin called it an "instant classic" and "one of the greatest pieces of film I have ever seen in my entire life."
What makes this stand out is the messenger. Affleck directs as well as acts, so he knows how budgets, release dates and studio nerves shape what gets made next.
