Film critics offered sharp assessments of new weekend theatrical releases, praising Anne Hathaway’s lead performance in the psychological thriller “Verity” while criticizing Tom Cruise’s turn in the apocalyptic energy industry satire “Digger.” The contrasting critical receptions translated into a clear box office battle during the weekend of October 1-4, 2026. This proved once again that star power and audience appetite do not always align with traditional critical metrics.
Anne Hathaway Shines in Colleen Hoover Adaptation “Verity”
Directed by Michael Showalter, Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of the Colleen Hoover bestselling novel “Verity” stars Dakota Johnson as a struggling writer named Lowen Ashleigh. Lowen is hired to complete a lucrative book series for an incapacitated bestselling author named Verity Crawford, played with vicious relish by Anne Hathaway. Upon moving into the author’s estate, Ashleigh uncovers what appears to be Verity’s hidden autobiographical manuscript filled with dark confessions, leading her to struggle to separate fiction from reality.
The film features Josh Hartnett as Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford. Critics have singled out Hathaway’s portrayal as the main attraction of the movie. Unleashing a villainous performance anchored by intense flashback sequences, Hathaway feasts on the material. She utilizes a mid-Atlantic accent and delivers a dark thriller narrative that drives the picture forward despite mixed professional reviews.
While “Verity” landed a 43% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 score on Metacritic, box office tracking proved robust. The picture tracks toward a weekend domestic win of $25 million to $32 million against a $40 million production budget. The built-in fanbase for Colleen Hoover adaptations continues to deliver strong financial returns, mirroring the massive success of 2024’s “It Ends With Us.”
Tom Cruise Satire “Digger” Stumbles at the Box Office
In stark contrast, Warner Bros.’ high-profile gamble “Digger” suffered a devastating box office collapse. Directed by four-time Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the apocalyptic energy industry satire stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, a bombastic Texas oil tycoon wearing old age makeup and a prosthetic pot belly. In the film, Digger’s company triggers a catastrophic environmental disaster that kills thousands, sending the world’s most powerful man into a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster destroys everything.
The dark comedy co-stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jesse Plemons. Despite the prestigious cast and director, critics found Cruise’s relentless energy leaden and fatiguing. Reviewers labeled the satire heavy-handed and an endurance test, leading to a 52% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 46 Metacritic rating. Projected opening weekend grosses plummeted to a weak $8 million to $12 million. This represents the lowest wide-opening numbers of Cruise’s career since 2012’s “Rock of Ages.”
Box Office Rankings for the Weekend
The crowded October 2026 box office shaped up with several strong holdovers alongside the new debuts:
- Verity: $25 million – $32 million (Amazon MGM Studios)
- Resident Evil (Third Weekend): $12 million – $16 million
- Heart of the Beast (Second Weekend): $11 million – $14 million
- Digger: $8 million – $12 million (Warner Bros.)
- Primetime (Second Weekend): ~$9 million (A24)
As studios evaluate audience reactions to these divergent theatrical gambles, the weekend definitively proved that audiences and critics responded far more enthusiastically to Hathaway’s wicked thriller thrills than to Iñárritu and Cruise’s heavy-handed doomsday satire.
