Anne Hathaway's Verity Tops the US Box Office — Then She Gives Tom Cruise's Digger 10/10

Hollywood loves a rivalry narrative. Anne Hathaway refused to play one. The same weekend her film Verity opened at number one in North America, she logged onto Letterboxd and gave Tom Cruise's Digger a full-throated rave — five stars, "10/10," and a shovel emoji — while Cruise's Alejandro G. Iñárritu satire was busy becoming one of the weakest openings of his headlining career.

The split screen is the story. On one side, a Colleen Hoover adaptation with Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett that audiences showed up for. On the other, a costly original that critics split and ticket buyers largely skipped. Between them, Hathaway's review read like a refusal to gloat.

Verity's $32.6 million opening

Rotten Tomatoes' weekend box-office column put Verity at number one with a $32.6 million domestic debut and more than $62 million worldwide for the reported $40 million production. Critics were cooler — a 34% Tomatometer in that roundup — but audiences delivered the kind of October opening that puts a thriller on track to outrun director Michael Showalter's previous high-water mark, The Big Sick.

The Hooververse context mattered. After It Ends with Us and the more modest returns of other adaptations, Verity proved the author's name can still open a movie when the cast is this stacked. Hathaway's 2026 run, already loud before the weekend, got another commercial chapter.

What Anne wrote about Digger on Letterboxd

Deadline published the review that made the defence official. "I loved this brilliant movie. It's smart and trippy and aggressive and funny and ambitious," Hathaway wrote. "It's worth making the time see and decide for yourself what you make of it. For me? 10/10." It was her first Letterboxd review; her listed favourites elsewhere on the platform include Moonstruck, It Happened One Night, Mirror and Phantom Thread.

The wording is careful. She does not attack the box office or the discourse. She asks people to watch and decide. In a timeline addicted to ratio-driven pile-ons, that is almost a radical act.

Digger's rough weekend — and Cruise's response

The same Rotten Tomatoes tally had Digger fifth with about $8 million domestic and roughly $20 million global — numbers Deadline had already flagged as catastrophic against a budget reported anywhere from $125 million upward after delays. The Tomatometer sat near 51%. Cruise posted that he was proud of the cast and crew and called the experience unforgettable, declining the defeat narrative even as analysts reached for career-low comparisons.

Iñárritu had not released a film since The Revenant; Cruise had not headlined a non-sequel since American Made. The swing was the point. The miss was expensive. Hathaway's review does not erase the miss; it argues the film still deserves a look.

Why the defence matters more than the scoreboard

Celebrity reviews are often marketing. This one lands differently because Hathaway's own movie won the weekend. She had nothing to gain by boosting a rival title except the appearance of generosity — or, more simply, sincerity. Deadline and Just Jared-style roundups treated the Letterboxd post as news precisely because the optics were so counterintuitive.

There is also a future subplot: coverage around the weekend revisited Cruise and Hathaway's planned Days of Thunder sequel pairing. Praising Digger now keeps that collaboration from inheriting a cold war it does not need.

For Cover Issue readers, the beauty and style adjacent story this week is Dakota Johnson's precise red lip on the Verity carpet. The culture story is Hathaway's choice to celebrate a film the chart left behind. Both women left the same premiere cycle looking like adults in an industry that rewards score-settling.

FAQ

How much did Verity open to?

About $32.6 million domestic, according to Rotten Tomatoes' weekend report, good for number one.

What did Anne Hathaway say about Digger?

On Letterboxd she called it brilliant, smart, trippy, aggressive, funny and ambitious, and rated it 10/10.

How did Digger open?

Around $8 million domestic and $20 million worldwide in the same weekend tallies — a major disappointment against its reported budget.

Did Tom Cruise respond to the box office?

He posted that he was proud of the film and thanked the cast and crew.

Is this Hathaway's first Letterboxd review?

Yes, according to Deadline's report.

Cover photo: Harald Krichel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0