Digger is a 2026 American satirical black comedy film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Tom Cruise, who also produced the film, stars as Digger Rockwell, an aging oil magnate whose drilling sets off an ecological disaster. The supporting cast includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jesse Plemons.

Iñárritu conceived the idea for Digger after working on The Revenant (2015). He wrote the screenplay with Sabina Berman, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., and Nicolás Giacobone, from a story by Iñárritu, Berman, and Jez Butterworth. Filming took place from November 2024 to May 2025 in the United Kingdom.

Digger premiered in London on September22, 2026, and was released theatrically in Mexico by Warner Bros. Pictures on October1, 2026, and in the United Kingdom and United States the next day. It is the final film release by Warner Bros. before the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance on October6, 2026. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $21.7million on a production budget of $125–180million.

Plot Digger Rockwell is an aging oil magnate who colludes with U.S. President Compson to allow Digger's company, Rockwell United, to extract oil in Alaska and Greenland. After repeatedly ignoring warnings of methane beneath the Greenland field, Digger learns that one such pocket has exploded, dislodging an ice shelf the size of Maryland and sending it toward Europe. Environmental safety chief Dr. Nirav Ganesh warns that its collision with Norway in three days will cause massive tidal waves across the North Sea. Compson and Digger instead establish an information firewall, gambling on the slight possibility that the shelf will drift into the Atlantic Ocean and melt. The two discuss Compson's failing health due to rectal cancer.

An interruption brought by a prop failure reveals that Digger is actually Curtis Markson, the lead actor in Fossil Fools, a satirical stage play about the titular tycoon. Everything seen to this point has been part of a dress rehearsal before the premiere. During pauses between scenes, Curtis learns that a plane carrying his daughter has disappeared after encountering an extreme hurricane. One of the producers, Kenny, offers to locate her using his private intelligence network.

Back in the rehearsal, the shelf strikes Europe, flooding major Northern European cities. The United States and Rockwell United are summoned before the European Parliament. Vice President Eddie stands in for Compson, who is undergoing surgery for his cancer, and promises American support for Europe. Digger claims responsibility for the disaster but argues neither he nor his company can be blamed for dependence on oil as he has only been fulfilling the world's demand. His speech incites the Parliament attendees to begin fighting with each other instead of attacking him. Afterward, a drunken Ganesh tells Digger that an even larger ice shelf has broken away from a Russian glacier and is heading toward Alaska.

Digger and Ganesh inform the recovering Compson, who is still heavily drugged. He proposes launching nuclear weapons at China as a distraction. Military Chief of Staff Fitzgerald instead suggests using the weapons against the ice shelf. Ganesh objects that the attack will merely fragment it without slowing its progress, but Compson publicly authorizes the strike. Ganesh's prediction proves correct.

Meanwhile, Curtis becomes increasingly disturbed by the play's excesses and eventually melts down on stage, accusing it of misrepresenting real events and trivializing the suffering of generations affected by those responsible. Kenny reveals that he is the real Digger's nephew and has bought the rights to Fossil Fools, believing that the play will both allow him to move past his bitterness toward his uncle and give the public a healthy way to process their collective grief. Now understanding what his performance means, Curtis finishes the rehearsal.

After the ice shelf disaster, Digger and his family retreat to his converted offshore platform. Five years later, Eddie has succeeded Compson as president following the latter's death. He halts all funding and military protection for the platform; most of Digger's employees immediately desert him, stealing his food, gold, and boats. Driven into severe delusion, Digger attempts to bully God into creating more food to sustain the remaining occupants. Unsuccessful, he scatters the ashes of his cat Maggie before jumping into the ocean he helped to pollute.

The audience viewing the play cheers Digger's death and Curtis's performance. Curtis's wife arrives to congratulate him and reveals that their daughter has been found safe, thanks to Kenny's help. The theater management then announces a "Level 4" condition outside. The audience members don manufactured breathing masks, leave the theater, and enter a flooded and devastated city patrolled by soldiers, robots, and drones.

Cast Tom Cruise as: Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon whose company causes a potential world-ending disaster in Greenland Curtis Markson, the actor who plays Digger in the satirical climate change play Fossil Fools Riz Ahmed as Dr. Nirav Ganesh, a scientist and Digger's head of environmental safety John Goodman as Compson, the President of the United States Sandra Hüller as Emma Rockwell, Digger's half-sister and business partner Michael Stuhlbarg as Eddie, the vice president of the United States Jesse Plemons as Kenny Rockwell, the rights holder to Fossil Fools and Digger's nephew Teddy Hawley as Kyle, the Fossil Fools depiction of Kenny Robert John Burke as Fitzgerald, the Military Chief of Staff Emma D'Arcy as Lina, Digger's assistant Burn Gorman as Amos, the Defense Secretary of Staff Sophie Wilde as Hannah, the director of Fossil Fools Pip Torrens as Schumer, the Attorney General Mercedes Hernández as Adelia, Digger's housekeeper Danny Kirrane as Sandy Clarkson, the safety officer at Digger’s Greenland oil field Corey Johnson as Admiral Jacobs, the head of the American Navy Ross Hatt as Dr. Berg, a leading veterinarian Stephen Wight as Reverend Moore, the presidential spiritual advisor Annabel Mullion as Agatha, Curtis’s wife

Production Development Iñárritu first conceived Digger after working on The Revenant (2015):

I had an idea. Not a script, not a film, just a relentless, recurring obsession that has endured through all these years. I knew who this character was. I knew how he spoke, how he survived, how he seduced reality into agreeing with him. But it took me 10 years to do this film, because I wasn’t looking for a story. I was looking for the right way of saying it.

Iñárritu developed Digger at Netflix—then under the title Blah, Blah, Blah—with Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to star, but Netflix scrapped the project because it was too similar to another of its films, Don't Look Up.

In 2019, he began discussing the project with Tom Cruise while filming Top Gun: Maverick (2022). Cruise was a longtime fan, having seen Iñárritu's directorial debut Amores perros (2000) in its initial release. After turning his attention to his passion project, Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022), Iñárritu returned to developing Digger.

Iñárritu, Sabina Berman, and Birdman (2014) writers Nicolas Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris Jr. co-wrote Digger and finished its screenplay in 2023. Iñárritu called Cruise's 10-minute monologue the film's "spine", telling Mid-Day there were "maybe 70 different versions of the monologue as we wrote the script over nine years". In writing Digger, Iñárritu said he was "not interested in pointing fingers or reducing the film to a political commentary or a right or left thing" while singling out Cruise's monologue, adding "we are all part of this madness. That there are no good people or bad people. The system has trapped all of us, and we have to find a way out together."

Casting The project was announced and Cruise officially cast in the lead role in February 2024, after he attended a meeting with Iñárritu, following his strategic partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures, with Legendary Pictures to produce the film. In August 2024, Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Sophie Wilde were added to the cast, with Riz Ahmed in negotiations to also join. In early 2025, Emma D'Arcy, Robert John Burke and Burn Gorman were revealed to have joined the cast. Indian actor Fahadh Faasil was originally considered for the role of Ganesh, but backed out and was replaced by Ahmed due to per diem disagreements.

Filming Principal photography began in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2024, taking place at Pinewood Studios, with Emmanuel Lubezki serving as the cinematographer, and was planned to be concluded by late April 2025. Filming was halted for two days in March 2025 while Goodman underwent hip surgery, during which he was hospitalized. The film was shot on 35mm film using VistaVision equipped with Leitz Cine ELSIE lenses.

The original process of applying prosthetics to Cruise to play the character of Digger Rockwell took six hours, which Cruise protested, claiming it would not work with his schedule. Cruise brought a chalkboard and physically timed how long it took each prosthetic to be applied to deduce the fastest time possible, recounting that "I had a guy there with a stopwatch and I'm like, 'OK, you see that time, six hours? By the time we're done, we're going to get it under an hour". The application process was eventually pared down to under an hour.

Production wrapped on May 3, 2025, after six months of filming under the working title Judy. Later that month, Iñárritu confirmed in an interview that the film would be a comedy.

Puck reported that the film had been greenlit with a $125million production budget, as a part of Warner Bros. chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy's strategy supporting auteur driven productions. Industry insiders claimed that, due to production delays, the initial budget ballooned the final cost to $140–160million, with some sources listing the figure as high as $180million. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported that studio representatives denied these larger figures. According to Warner Bros. executives, it kept to its $125 million budget.

Post-production In December 2025, the title was officially revealed as Digger alongside a 50-second teaser with the song "O Green World" by Gorillaz. Industrial Light & Magic and Legacy Effects provided the visual effects.

Music

In October 2026, it was announced that English musician Cosmo Sheldrake would compose the score, in his feature film composing debut. The soundtrack album was released digitally by WaterTower Music label on October 2, 2026, alongside the film's release.

Release Digger had a Royal Film Performance screening at London's Leicester Square on September 22, 2026. It received an international theatrical release on September 30, 2026. The Mexican release occurred on October 1, 2026. It was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on October 2, 2026.

Digger was released in Dolby Cinema, IMAX, and other premium large formats (PLFs). The film’s IMAX release concluded the initial run of The Odyssey in the IMAX 70 mm film format after 78 days. In addition, the film received VistaVision screenings. The film is released in a variable aspect ratio expanding horizontally to 1.85:1 Flat for standard or non-IMAX PLFs or expanding vertically in either 1.43:1 for IMAX GT with Laser or 1.5:1 (3:2) in native VistaVision presentations. It is the final film release from Warner Bros. Pictures under Warner Bros. Discovery ownership before becoming part of the Skydance Corporation as part of their merger on October 6.

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