Tom Cruise defends Digger, he wants to “make films that last”

Despite Digger’s crash at the box office, Tom Cruise assures that he doesn’t make films “to see how they score during their first weekend in theaters.”

No, the box office isn’t everything for Tom Cruise.

The superstar of Top Gun And Mission: Impossiblewho has become an icon of American action in recent decades, champion of the blockbuster in theaters and ambassador of big spectacle cinema, assures that numbers are not the Alpha and Omega of his acting career.

A few hours before Digger crashed at the American box office with only $8 million collected in North America during its opening weekend – for a production budget in excess of $150 million – Tom Cruise explained in an interview for the podcast On Film With Kevin McCarthy :

“When I make films, I don’t tell myself that it’s to see their score during their first weekend in theaters! I really think that we are going to make something that will stand the test of time, a work of cinema that will last…“

Making films that last over time to mark the 7th art, that is Tom Cruise’s ambition.

With Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Cruise mentioned in particular Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, a film considered today a masterpiece of science fiction, but which was very poorly received when it was released in theaters in 1982.

“Everyone massacred it when it came out. But some films transcend that… we simply hope to succeed in making a film that lasts. So much happens when a movie is released. I was lucky enough to release films in the ’80s and ’90s, a time when they would stay in theaters for a year. Works like Rain Man or Born on the 4th of July continued to be shown for an entire year. How to create a film capable of crossing borders, lasting and evolving? That’s how I feel about Digger: it’s one of those films!“

SO Digger is it a misunderstood masterpiece that will end up in the pantheon of American cinema?

In the meantime, the film risks ultimately causing its producers to lose between $150 and $200 million in theaters. But perhaps with time, Cruise and Iñárritu’s work will be reevaluated.