And yet, the movie has dug itself little success and even lower ratings. Could it be that Tom Cruise has fallen from the good graces of the audience? Or is it simply that we are so attached to franchises like the MCU or Avatar that we need more than just one movie to satisfy us? The sentimentality attached to yet another movie in a franchise drags us along like little marionettes, playing up beloved characters and introducing new ones.
Franchises rely on an audience’s attachment to a pre-existing world to keep making movies – just look at Star Wars. The franchise is still going strong (or weak, depending on how you look at it) with The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter set to release in 2027. One of the main reasons fans go back to it is because it’s familiar; they don’t have to relearn the world nor do they have to think too deeply about the plot. Despite the heavy action and precocious political sci-fi undertones that made the original trilogy so compelling, Star Wars has largely been reduced to a ‘feel good’ franchise.
Audiences have become lazy in their literacy, trading in allegories and subtle messages for exposition. Movies are made to be watched with a phone in hand now, and the same plots have been recycled into a long string of indistinguishable cliches. Digger has broken these cliches, openly centring the narrative around an unreliable narrator with few redeeming qualities as he fights to prove he is the hero. Rarely is a protagonist so openly been portrayed as the villain in Hollywood, and while the movie does drag on occasion, the narrative is carried from scene to scene with an ease that makes the movie a captivating watch.
...the backlash that accompanies movies like Digger sends studios a clear message: we don’t actually want different, we don’t actually want unique; we want what is familiar and comfortable.
Digger has been argued to be too on the nose by some critics, and is set to lose nearly $245 million, making it one of the biggest box office flops. This begs the question of why has a movie unlike any other flopped so terribly when the internet has been in uproar over the lack of original films? In order to have original ideas, audiences must have an open-minded approach to cinema. The rejection of anything different is what makes it difficult to keep original ideas in circulation, and the backlash that accompanies movies like Digger sends studios one message: we don’t actually want different or unique; we want what is familiar and comfortable.
Social media also sets a precedent for which movies gain traction and which don’t – audiences have come to rely on the opinions of others to influence the films they choose to see, and while this can be attributed to the rising cost of cinema, it also speaks to the idea that we need to look up from our screens and be more present. Critics and cinema goers need to be willing to walk into a movie blindly without the preconceptions of others that sit on their shoulder and whisper sweet negatives.
...we are beholden to the comfort that franchises offer...
Audiences hold standalone films to a far higher standard than franchise releases - for example, calling a Fast and Furious movie bad is simply met with shrugs and mutters of “well, what did you expect; it’s Fast and Furious". As such, it becomes nearly impossible to pitch an original idea without it being dismissed or labelled ridiculous. We are beholden to the comfort that franchises offer by not being too thought-provoking and consequently often reject the uniqueness of ‘strange’ and ‘different’ original films.
All in all, there remains evidence to suggest that audiences do want original films - think of the box office success of Obsession and Hoppers from 2026 alone - but there is the tendency to reject the nuances that accompany them and therefore fall back into the same patterns of turning to franchises. This can create a never-ending paradox of turning away what we ask for in favour of what we see as recognisable, not realising that we might find reflections of ourselves in the very films we reject.