Tom Cruise Transformed Into Fat Billionaire

Tom Cruise ventured to CinemaCon to offer a first look at “Digger,” his new movie with director Alejandro González Iñárritu.

“It took 40 years for me to be able to put on the boots of Digger Rockwell,” Cruise said before introducing the never-before-seen trailer.

And this is definitely Cruise as you’ve never seen him before. In the outrageous comedy, he sports a thick Southern accent (think Ross Perot, but more excitable), a beer belly and white hair that’s been manipulated into an unconvincing combover. He’s an oil baron whose company may have set off an ecological disaster that could also spark a nuclear war. John Goodman is an ailing U.S. president who implores Cruise to fix the mess he’s unleashed.

Described as a “comedy of catastrophic proportions,” the story follows Cruise as the most powerful man in the world as “races to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he unleashed destroys everything.”  Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, Riz Ahmed and Emma D’Arcy round out the cast.

Iñárritu, an Oscar winner for “The Revenant” and “Birdman,” co-wrote the script with Sabina Berman, Nicolas Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris. “Digger” marks Cruise’s first non-franchise film since 2017, a year in which starred in the box office hit “American Made” and notorious flop “The Mummy.” In the meantime, he’s been busy with three “Mission: Impossible” installments as well as “Top Gun: Maverick.”

“Digger” carries a massive $125 million production budget, meaning the film is another wild swing for Warner Bros. co-chiefs Pam Abdy and Mike de Luca, who have placed a big emphasis on expensive, auteur-driven swings.

“Sinners” was a massive success with $370 million globally against a $90 million budget. And although “One Battle After Another” lost around $90 million to $100 million theatrically, having earned just $210 million against a $140 million budget, it scored a major victory by taking home the best picture Oscar. But, so far, their other gambles lost a lot of money: February’s “The Bride” was a catastrophe of epic proportions with $23 million against a $90 million budget, 2025’s sci-fi satire “Mickey 17” stumbled with $117 million against a $118 million budget, and 2024’s “Joker: Folie à Deux” was rejected with $207 million against a $250 million budget. Elsewhere in 2026, the studio is unveiling “The End of Oak Street” with Anne Hathaway, “Practical Magic 2” starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, and “The Great Beyond” from director J.J. Abrams.