⛏️ ‘Verity’ Soars as Tom Cruise Box Office Vehicle Stumbles
Amazon MGM Studios has reinforced its position as a powerhouse in content for female audiences, as its adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s thriller Verity—starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett—opened to $62.5 million globally.
This marks the second-biggest debut for a film adaptation of Hoover’s work, trailing only the drama It Ends with Us ($95.6 million opening), and represents a resoundingly successful start for a project budgeted at $40 million.
Directed by Michael Showalter, the film demonstrated impressive international legs ($32.6 million domestic, $29.9 million overseas), topping the box office in the UK ($4.5 million), Germany ($3.8 million), Brazil ($3.8 million), and Australia ($3.1 million). According to the studio, the thriller expanded beyond Hoover’s established core fanbase to draw a broader male audience, turning in particularly strong openings in Norway, Turkey, and Ukraine.
By contrast, the weekend proved to be a major box office misfire for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s political satire Digger, starring Tom Cruise. Carrying a production budget of $160 million, the film mustered just $20 million worldwide ($12 million internationally and $8 million domestically). For scale, the director’s previous tentpole project launched with $48.5 million across a comparable footprint.
Among other notable releases:
- ‘Practical Magic 2’ (Warner Bros.) debuted with $46 million across 77 international markets.
- ‘Heart of the Beast’ (Paramount), an action drama starring Brad Pitt, displayed strong holding power in its second frame, generating $32.5 million globally over the weekend to bring its total box office close to $100 million ($98.7 million).
Source: Deadline
