Verity Opens to $62.5M WW; Digger Flops with $20M — SkimNews
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- Verity opened to $62.5M worldwide, the second-best global start for a Colleen Hoover adaptation after It Ends With Us ($95.6M WW), beating the reported $46M global launch of Warner Bros' Practical Magic 2.
- Digger, the $160M Alejandro Iñárritu-directed Tom Cruise political satire, bombed with a $20M global debut ($8M domestic, $12M foreign) — a far cry from the $48.5M WW launch of One Battle After Another a year ago.
- Verity's $40M net production cost delivered Amazon MGM Studios another win in the female-targeted literary space, continuing a run that includes series Off Campus and Elle on the Prime side.
- The Verity audience was 78% female in the U.S., but the film crossed demographic lines internationally, opening No. 1 in macho markets like Norway ($400K), Turkey, and Ukraine ($370K — its biggest Hoover adaptation opening).
- Verity led in major territories including the UK ($4.5M, No. 1), Brazil ($3.8M, No. 1), Australia ($3.1M, No. 1), and Germany ($3.8M, No. 1), with Taiwan and CIS openings set for the following weekend and Japan arriving November 6.
- The Heart of the Beast held strongly in its second frame with $32.5M worldwide ($11M domestic) for a running cume of $98.7M, beating not just domestic but international holds.
Why it matters: For Amazon MGM, Verity's $62.5M global opening against a $40M production cost delivers a high-margin win and reinforces the studio's grip on female-skewing literary adaptations — a lane where rivals have struggled to replicate. For Tom Cruise and Paramount, Digger's $20M global bow on a $160M budget is a catastrophic theatrical loss that continues a pattern of misfires for the star's recent non-Mission choices.
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