Tom Cruise’s latest movie, Digger, made around $20 million worldwide on its opening weekend. The film, which buries Cruise under thick makeup to make the ageless star look like a normal old man, reportedly had a $160 million production budget (via Deadline). I’m no math genius, but is that good?
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey currently sits at $1.76 billion from theatres after what has been a spectacular run at the box office. Again, I’m not a math guy, but that’s a fair bit more.
Digger, which was shot in VistaVision, was released on IMAX screens on October 2, but its time on the bigger big screen is almost at an end already. The Odyssey will return to select IMAX theaters this Friday, October 9, replacing the Cruise flick.
With only 41 theatres worldwide equipped to play true IMAX, fitted with the specialized 15-perf/70mm film projectors capable of displaying the movie in its ideal ratio, it’s understandable. Especially if those cinemas want to make any money.
The next films with planned IMAX releases are Street Fighter on October 16, and Godzilla Minus Zero starting on November 3. Until then, there’s a small window of opportunity to see The Odyssey as Nolan intended.
IGN’s review of Digger called the script its “Achilles heel.” It has a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer. Digger trolled the negative reviews in its most recent ad campaign, but that failed to move the needle.
The Odyssey was, of course, well-received, but it didn’t please everyone. Emily Wilson, the translator whose work inspired Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s poem, hated it so much that she’s retranslating The Iliad in its entirety.
The Odyssey is currently the second highest-grossing movie of the year, behind only Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has now passed well over $2 billion at the box office.
