• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Warner Bros.' high-risk film "Digger" stumbled in its box-office debut, and even Tom Cruise's star power was not enough to dig it out.

The movie pulled in a disappointing $8 million in box-office revenue during its wide U.S. release, according to IMDb’s Box Office Mojo.

The "dark comedy" was initially estimated to hit a weekend opening of $30 million. More recently, Warner Bros. lowered its projection to $12 million to $15 million.

This came against a studio production budget of $125 million, according to reports.

For Cruise -- the big franchise star for "Mission: Impossible," "Top Gun" and other movies -- this was his weakest opening in over 20 years, since
 2007's "Lions for Lambs," which earned only $6.7 million.

Cruise, in an offbeat and serious role, plays an aging and eccentric oil tycoon, outfitted in a fat suit and aging prosthetics with a cowboy hat. In the film, the character’s business triggers a massive climatological and ecological disaster.

For Warner Bros. Discovery, this is the studio's last major film release before being officially combined under the $111 billion mega-merger with Paramount Skydance, under the new company brand name Skydance Media.

Word-of-mouth marketing did not help the film, with a CinemaScore from audiences coming in at a “C+”.

Rotten Tomatoes gave “Digger” mixed results, with a critics-based score at 51% and with audiences at 71%.

Any score below 60% from critics is officially "rotten," according to the company. An audience score of 60% or more indicates a positive result.

Warner Bros. spent just $7.6 million, according to iSpot estimates -- nowhere near the traditional $20 million or so in national TV advertising usually spent for a wide-release movie starring a major film star.

The first weekend in October was won by Amazon MGM’s "Verity," a psychological erotic thriller starring Anne Hathaway that took in $32.6 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

National TV advertising for the movie totaled $8.5 million, according to iSpot estimates.

After "Verity," returning movies' box-office revenue included “Resident Evil” ($12.5 million), “Heart of the Beast” ($11.0 million) and “Primetime” ($8.0 million).