‘Verity’ eyes a $35 million debut as Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ heads for a flop at just $12–15 million

American cinemas are seeing a clash of titles this weekend: ‘Verity’, the new thriller starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett — the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, directed by Michael Showalter — is targeting a North American debut of $30–35 million from 3,510 cinemas, as Variety reports.

On the same weekend, ‘Digger’ — Tom Cruise’s drama directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu — is forecast to open with just $12–15 million from 3,300 screens, a disappointing result for such an ambitious project.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a separate studio projection gives ‘Verity’ $27–30 million, while keeping the $12–15 million range for ‘Digger’.

If ‘Verity’ hits that target, it would become Anne Hathaway’s third film this year to open at number one at the U.S. box office — an extraordinary record for the actress.

The gap is also reflected in the budgets: ‘Verity’ cost around $40 million, while ‘Digger’ was initially approved with a $125 million budget. Reports of a $160–180 million cost have been dismissed by Warner Bros.