In line with its stumble at the global box office, the movie “Digger” recorded a weak opening in Saudi Arabia, after Tom Cruise’s latest film grossed only 1.8 million riyals ($480,000). This is one of the weakest openings for his films in the Kingdom since the return of cinema, at a time when the film became the talk of international cinema circles, which began to wonder about the reasons for the failure of a project that brings together one of the biggest movie stars in the world and the Oscar-winning Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez. Inarritu. According to the latest data from the Saudi Film Authority, “Digger” sold only 26.1 thousand tickets during its first week, from September 27 to October 3, ranking third at the box office.
The opening seems remarkable given the popularity enjoyed by Cruise's films in the Saudi market, especially the action works with which his name is associated. In 2025, “Mission: Impossible: The Last Judgment” opened at about 6.5 million riyals ($1.73 million), more than three times the opening of “Digger.” As for “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One,” it ended its journey in Saudi cinema, collecting about 33.4 million riyals ($8.9 million).
Cruise's most prominent Saudi experience is with "Top Gun: Maverick," which in 2022 generated about 85 million riyals ($22.7 million). Even in its fourth week of showing, the film was collecting about 6 million riyals ($1.6 million), more than three times what “Digger” achieved in its first week.
Cruz is outside the safety zone
But the numbers of “Digger” tell one part of the film’s story, as the project itself represents a clear turning point for Cruise, who has built his cinematic image in recent years around huge action films, impossible missions, and dangerous scenes that he performs himself.
In “Digger,” Cruise changes his skin... He appears with white hair, wrinkles, and unfamiliar features created by cosmetic effects, and abandons the image of the athletic hero who runs, jumps, and defies death, to play the character of Digger Rockwell, an aging oil tycoon whose actions cause an environmental disaster that threatens the world. The physical transformation is accompanied by a deliberately loud and exaggerated performance, which places Cruz in a different character than the one his fans have become accustomed to in recent years.
A sudden change in the movie
One of the most controversial elements of Digger has to do with its structure itself. The film begins as a satirical black comedy about a wealthy oilman facing an environmental disaster that he caused, and Cruise gives a loud performance, amidst a very strange visual world. Then the film changes course and tone sharply, redefining the story the viewer thought they were in to follow. This transformation opened the door to contradictory readings. A team saw in it boldness that gave the film additional layers, and a team found that the film that started with a specific path suddenly turns into a different, more abstract and complex experience.
Hence the question becomes, “Why did Digger fail?” More complex, especially since the film had on paper the elements of a huge Hollywood project, with a star the size of Tom Cruise, an Oscar-winning director, a high budget, an acting transformation for its hero, and an idea that mixes black comedy with political and environmental satire.
Disappointing global numbers
Globally, the numbers were harsh, as “Digger” opened with $8 million (30 million riyals) in North America, and added $12 million (45 million riyals) from 73 international markets, bringing its global opening to $20 million (75 million riyals).
Estimates of the film's production budget vary between $125 and $180 million (469 and 675 million riyals), after the project began with a budget of $125 million before its costs increased as the production period extended, while the company spent about $100 million (375 million riyals) on marketing. Industry sources estimate the break-even point at about $350 million (1.31 billion riyals) globally. This equation made the film, immediately after its opening holiday, a subject for analyzes of potential losses and reasons for failure, transforming within days from a project carrying great expectations into one of the most prominent box office failures in the current year 2026.
A Saudi paradox in cinema
Despite this stumble, the Saudi market recorded a paradox different from the global scene. Locally, “Digger” was slightly ahead of “Verity,” which collected 1.7 million riyals ($453,000) from 26.6 thousand tickets, compared to 1.8 million riyals ($480,000) for “Digger” from 26.1 thousand tickets. Globally, the picture was greatly reversed, as “Verity” opened at about $62.5 million (234.4 million riyals), more than 3 times the opening of “Digger.”
This came in a week full of anticipated films such as “Digger” and “Verity,” during which the number of films shown in Saudi cinemas increased from 57 to 63 films, but the box office recorded a noticeable decline. Total revenues fell from 18.6 million riyals ($4.96 million) in the previous week to 15.9 million riyals ($4.24 million), a decline of about 14.5 percent, which shows that the push of new films did not give the Saudi box office the expected momentum.
Dr. Karl Deisseroth spent long hours answering congratulatory calls, after learning in the early hours of Monday morning that he had won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, in recognition of his contribution to establishing a new field in neuroscience known as “optogenetics.”
But the California-based scientist soon asked for a break from all this attention to perform a more ordinary task: preparing school meals for his children, who were sleeping in the family home in Stanford, while their father spoke in the middle of the night with journalists and well-wishers.
Deisseroth (54 years old) shares this year's medicine award with two researchers from Germany, in recognition of their work in the field of "optogenetics," a field that combines light and genes to activate or deactivate neurons in living brains.
Deisseroth, who describes himself as a night owl, often working until after midnight, is a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor at Stanford University. He said that after reviewing research papers and emailing his students, he had gone to lie down when he received a call from the Nobel Committee in Stockholm.
He told the Associated Press: “I almost felt like I had lost the ability to form words, but after a minute or two I regained my composure.”
He quickly regained his ability to speak, and conducted remote interviews with the agency's science reporters, while quick email correspondence with the Stanford communications team facilitated communication between the two parties.
“I haven't had any real sleep,” he said an hour after the announcement.
While science reporters spoke with Deisseroth by phone and Zoom, an AP photographer and videographer raced to his home at Stanford.
The photographer arrived at about three-thirty in the morning, to find Halloween decorations hanging outside the house, and only one light lit inside. He was worried that he might have come to the wrong address, before he gathered his courage and knocked on the door.
The scientist's wife, Dr. Michèle Monje-Deisseroth, opened it and brought him into the house, where the Nobel laureate was taking calls on the couch.
Monji Deisseroth, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor of pediatric neuro-oncology at Stanford, sometimes stood next to her husband, and sometimes went off to prepare coffee for the Stanford communications team that joined the celebration. Deisseroth told the agency that he was surprised that his work received the honor of the Nobel Prize, while his wife was not surprised.
He recalled the process of research he conducted with his fellow Nobel laureates, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, and pointed out its impact on reality.
He said: “At my core, I am a doctor and a scientist at the same time. I am a psychiatrist who cares about my patients, whether they suffer from autism or depression. I care about the hope this work holds. But at the same time, I am a basic science scientist, interested in understanding this amazing organ, the brain, and how it works, integrates and processes information and produces everything that makes us human.”
When Deisseroth finished his interviews, he told the Stanford team that he needed an hour-long break starting at 6:30 a.m., explaining that his children were about to wake up and would need their meals before heading to school.
When a Stanford representative asked whether the midnight noise would disturb the neighbors, Dr. Monje Deisseroth played it down, saying that they lived in faculty housing and that the neighborhood was full of Nobel Prize winners.
In Japan, where people's lives are characterized by perseverance and effort, a group of so-called "competitive sleep professionals" competed in a fast and deep sleep competition, organized by a mattress manufacturer.
The competition, which was held in Tokyo under the name “Mattress Race,” witnessed dozens of participants who were equipped with sleep-tracking devices and lay down on comfortable mattresses to fall asleep for up to 90 minutes on Monday, competing for a first prize exceeding two million Japanese yen (about 14 thousand dollars).
Riichiro Nakama, the creative director of the company organizing Koala Sleep Japan, said: “Japan is often described as a sleep-deprived country, and its people are by nature diligent and diligent.”
In a semi-dark hall, participants slept with monitors attached to their heads, while some of them cuddled stuffed toys in their beds.
“By turning it into an event like this, I think we can get people to sleep together and raise interest in the issue of sleep,” Nakama added.
Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued in 2021 revealed that the Japanese sleep on average 7 hours and 24 minutes per day, which is the lowest rate among the organization’s countries. This is attributed, according to experts, to long working hours, transportation, and thriving nightlife.
Participant Chisato Honda (32 years old) told Agence France-Presse: “It was over in the blink of an eye, and I almost wished I could sleep a little longer.” “It was a fun competition,” she added.
The winner was chosen based on how quickly and deeply he fell asleep.
“Soimei,” the winner of the competition, who only mentioned her surname, said: “I want to live independently, so I think I will use the money to cover moving costs.”
She added: “I also want a bed worthy of a princess, so I intend to buy that bed.”
