In the aftermath of critics burying Digger, the film had a disastrous opening weekend at the box office and its Oscar odds began to free fall. Per the Gold Derby experts’ predictions, the Warner Bros. climate-change satire has dropped out of races like Best Picture, Best Director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu), and Best Supporting Actor (John Goodman), and Tom Cruise is hanging on for dear life in Best Actor.
While Digger currently has a 52% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 46 score on Metacritic, its campaign strategists can take heart: bad reviews don’t always signal the end of a movie’s awards chances.
Another Warner Bros. production, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), fared worse with critics, and wound up with 45% at Rotten Tomatoes. And yet, the feel-good post-9/11 drama earned two Oscar nominations (Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Max von Sydow), plus four Critics Choice bids, with Thomas Horn winning as Best Young Performer.
More recently, Netflix’s Don’t Look Up (2021) — which, like Digger, tackles the climate-change debate with a satirical mindset — made do with 56% at RT. That didn’t stop the film from scooping up four Oscar bids (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Score), four Golden Globe noms, and six Critics Choice nods, including for Ariana Grande’s original song “Just Look Up.”
Then there’s Bohemian Rhapsody. The 2018 Queen biopic still causes cinephiles to twirl their mustaches in disgust. Despite its lowly 60% score on RT, the film received five Oscar nods and won four: Best Actor for Rami Malek, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing; it only lost Best Picture. Malek also picked up hardware for his Freddie Mercury portrayal at the SAG Actor Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globes.
Alejandro González Iñárritu and Tom Cruise at the ‘Digger’ premiereJeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros.
This is all a long way of saying Digger may be down, but it’s not out.
Iñárritu has never had a misfire at the Oscars, with all seven of his previous feature films receiving at least one nomination, including the widely panned Bardo (2022), which got in for Best Cinematography. To date, he’s responsible for directing 10 actors to Oscar noms, with Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) being his sole acting winner. Cruise could be No. 11.
Digger is a craft-heavy film with standout categories including cinematography, costumes, sound, and — most notably — makeup and hair. Even as the movie is dropping out of other races, it remains in the Top 3 for Best Makeup & Hairstyling thanks to the physical transformation of Cruise into a balding, aging oil tycoon.
Following its box-office disappointment, many of Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning friends publicly defended the filmmaker for having taken a big swing with an original concept. Alfonso Cuarón posted the initial negative reviews of all-timers like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and The Shining. Guillermo del Toro declared, “Love the arts; f–k the charts.” Anne Hathaway said, “I loved this brilliant movie.” And Jane Fonda urged Iñárritu to “keep being brave.”
But will Hollywood continue having Iñárritu’s back where it counts the most — on the Oscar ballots?
Here are the Best Picture nominees since 2000 with less than a 70% score at Rotten Tomatoes:
YearFilmRT ScoreOscar History2000Chocolat63%5 noms; 0 wins2006Babel68%7 noms; 1 win (Score)2008The Reader63%5 noms; 1 win (Actress – Kate Winslet)2009The Blind Side65%2 noms; 1 win (Actress – Sandra Bullock)2011Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close45%2 noms; 0 wins2018Bohemian Rhapsody60%5 noms; 4 wins (Actor – Rami Malek, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)2018Vice64%8 noms; 1 win (Makeup & Hairstyling)2019Joker68%11 noms; 2 wins (Actor – Joaquin Phoenix, Score)2021Don’t Look Up56%4 noms; 0 wins
The 2027 Oscars nominations will be announced on Jan. 21 — see the awards calendar.