Verity projected to lead box office over Digger

Verity and Digger are scheduled to open in North American theaters on October 2, with Verity projected to lead the weekend box office. The forecasts are estimates, not reported results: Verity is expected to earn $30 million to $35 million domestically from 3,510 theaters, while Digger is projected to take in $12 million to $15 million from about 3,300 locations. The figures place Verity, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, ahead of Tom Cruise’s Digger in advance expectations. A $30 million to $35 million debut could give Hathaway her third No. 1 opening of 2026, according to the forecasts. Verity is directed by Michael Showalter and adapts Colleen Hoover’s novel about a struggling writer asked to complete a bestselling author’s book series after the author is badly injured. Digger, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, is an environmental satire in which Cruise plays a wealthy oil tycoon whose company is linked to a potential catastrophe. Its projected opening is below the roughly $40 million debut that box office experts cited in one report as necessary to justify a film of its scale. The movie’s production cost is disputed. Warner Bros.