As Sarah wrote in yesterday’s site open, Tom Cruise’s greatest role is that of “Tom Cruise”. She is right in saying that his GQ cover story, both in print and on video, is for all the gossip hounds. Pretty sure we’re all still screaming about it.

Tom, as we know, is promoting Digger, opening on October 2. Press screenings are starting to happen over the next few days ahead of the world premiere in London on Tuesday. Matthew Belloni posted the early box office projection earlier this week.

Digger obviously was ever expected to do Spider-Man numbers, in my opinion the most direct comparison here would be One Battle After Another which opened last year around the same time. Two auteur directors known by three names, Paul Thomas Anderson and Alejandro González Iñárritu directing a satire-comedy with an all-star cast led by a major movie star and both films are coming from the same studio, Warner Bros, with a similar budget – somewhere in the $130-150 million.

One Battle After Another’s opening weekend box office was around $22 million which is in line with the number that Digger is currently tracking at. By the end of its theatrical run, the worldwide total was just over $200 so in the end, at best, when you factor in marketing costs, it just broke even – but in reality they probably took a bit of a loss on it.

Since One Battle After Another went on to dominate award season, though, eventually winning Best Picture plus several other Oscars, the culture hasn’t focused much on its financial performance. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Digger because this film might be more inaccessible that OBAA and, also, the best actor race is looking super competitive this year where Tom Cruise’s Oscar chances are concerned.

We’ve been talking about this for weeks – John Malkovich is looking very comfortable in the frontrunner position, with Matt Damon and Ryan Gosling in the conversation due to the mega success of The Odyssey and Project Hail Mary respectively. Andrew Scott is coming on strong out of the festivals for his performance in Elsinore so there aren’t that many open spots for the other contenders, and Tom’s jockeying alongside several of them: John Turturro, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan…if you thought that the Emmys were so white the other night, the Oscars are also looking very white this season.

Because he’s Tom Cruise though, even if Digger’s box office numbers end up being comparable to One Battle After Another, he might wear it more by virtue of being… well… Tom Cruise. Until opening weekend then, we’ll be seeing a lot of Tom Cruise as he Tom Cruises his way through this press tour which is to say he’ll be on a blitz. If the GQ interview was a departure from the usual, the usual is on its way: multiple destinations and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight, generally a safe environment for a movie star who sticks to the same talking points. But also The Jennifer Hudson Show, also a safe space for celebrities with a notable defining feature. Jennifer confirmed this week that Tom will be coming to her studio.

Tom Cruise is doing the spirit tunnel. And I’m sure you know the power of the spirit tunnel. The spirit tunnel can literally make a star. The most famous example, of course, is “Aaron Pierre, that’s Mufasa” which was so explosive they had to shut down the comments, LOOOLLL. Please. Don’t pretend you don’t want to watch it again, eight times.

Now… imagine Tom Cruise. As JHud told her audience, Tom Cruise knows the show, he absolutely knows the spirit tunnel. There is no f-cking way Tom Cruise is going to wing it down the spirit tunnel. Spontaneity is not his thing. Remember, he’s a teacher and a student. All he does is think about performance and film and action sequences.

This man will prepare for the spirit tunnel like it’s an action sequence! Will he hire a stunt coordinator? Will he hire a choreographer? Or will he bring back the greatest hits? I know we all know Tom Cruise for the running and the jumping and the trying to die or not die on a motorcycle off a cliff. But we also know that Tom Cruise LOVES to dance. He danced in Risky Business in his underwear and a pair of white socks; he danced to the same song, “Old Time Rock’n’Roll” on the Scientology boat at his birthday party; and his Les Grossman dance at the end of Tropic Thunder has pretty much reached icon status.

He demoed the Les Grossman on Graham Norton a few years ago, an underrated moment for many reasons, not least of which is a mortified Zac Efron, initially, and then you can see him just say, f-ck it, let’s just go for it, LOL.

Tom Cruise really does love the motorcycle, riding it but also … um… dancing it. He did it on 106 & Park, another TC dance memory that not enough people know about.

@hdncomplexity #tomcruise #fyp #BET #106andpark #missionimpossible #yungjoc #rap #hiphop ♬ original sound - Hidden Complexity

Tom Cruise will oblige when you ask him to groove – so he will groove down the spirit tunnel, it’s just a question of which move he will groove to. Will it be the Les Grossman booty slap? Or the motorcycle? Or an entirely new one connected to Digger?

I say this with absolutely no sarcasm, none at all – I can’t wait, I am dementedly excited by whatever we’re about to see come down that tunnel. Maybe it will be great. But, like, even better if it’s cringe. In fact, it could be the only time I’ve ever asked to be cringed, wanted to be cringed, can’t wait to be cringed. And then afterwards I want a whole documentary on how he rehearsed for it for weeks.

Tom Cruise greets fans in NYC, September 16, 2026

Photo credits: BlayzenPhotos/Backgrid, Jairo/INSTARimages

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