Ben Affleck defends Digger flop and warns of safer movies
Ben Affleck says cheering the failure of Digger will leave audiences with "a bunch of shitty homogenized movies."
He made the defence during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, The Hollywood Reporter reported on 16 October. The film stars Tom Cruise and was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
The numbers were small for a film of this scale. Digger opened with $8 million in domestic cinemas, the United States and Canada, and $12 million internationally, according to the same report. That is a hard start. Big-budget releases depend on a strong first weekend before word of mouth spreads.
Affleck did not dispute the result. He objected to the reaction. He described the backlash against the film as "high school bullying," Variety reported on 15 October.
"You cannot do something interesting without taking a big swing," he said. Taking that kind of swing means you are going to sometimes look bad, he added.
He called Digger an ambitious, interesting movie made by talented, interesting people. His argument was simple. If risk-taking films are punished, studios will take a safer approach on future projects.
That warning is tied to the scale of the loss. Digger is projected to lose $150 million to $200 million theatrically, Variety reported on 5 October. Theatrical means from cinema ticket sales, before later revenue from home viewing and licensing.
Not all of the response has been hostile. Musician Neil Young was among those who gave positive reviews of the film amid its weak box-office run, Deadline reported on 15 October.
What makes this stand out is the messenger. Affleck has sat on both sides of the ledger, as an actor fronting large releases and as a director and producer weighing budgets against risk. His point was not about one weekend. It was about what gets greenlit next.
