Digger has been cloaked with mystery since its original announcement. Known only up until now as “a comedy of catastrophic proportions,” the upcoming new movie from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu stars Tom Cruise, with an early teaser trailer not showing his face but teasing that he has cowboy boots and, appropriately enough, a shovel.
Now, the first full trailer reveals a lot more about what to expect, showcasing Cruise as Digger Rockwell, “the most powerful man in the world” who may be the only one who can save humanity — but unlike other Tom Cruise movies, it’s only because he’s the one to blame for the disaster at hand. His oil-drilling arrogance has caused an ecological code red, and he’s called in by the president (John Goodman) to clean up the mess he’s made.
The ensemble cast also includes Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, Sandra Hüller, Sophie Wilde, Emma D’Arcy, Robert John Burke, Burn Gorman, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
But Iñárritu getting Cruise to return to auteur filmmaking isn’t the filmmaker’s only noteworthy move for Digger. The film was also shot on VistaVision, a largely “outdated” 35mm format that went out of favor in the ’60s as less expensive widescreen processes were popularized. However, the camera’s horizontal film loading offers increased detail and texture, and that’s led to renewed interest from filmmakers like Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) and Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
This is Iñárritu’s first movie in four years, following the under-the-radar release of the Netflix-produced Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. Prior to Bardo, though, Iñárritu won back-to-back Best Director Oscars for his films The Revenant and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), the latter also winning Best Picture. This makes Digger a very interesting awards contender this year, especially considering that Cruise received an honorary Academy Award in 2025 but has never won a competitive Oscar in his decades-long career.
Digger premieres in theaters on October 2nd, 2026. Check out the new trailer as well as a new poster below, then see where Tom Cruise lands on our list of the greatest action movie stars ever.
