Verity Beats Digger at Box Office With Strong $32.6 Million Debut

The psychosomatic suspenseful movie Verity has made a solid start at the North American box office, while Tom Cruise’s latest film Digger writhed to attract audiences in its opening weekend.

The MGM film, head the cast Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett, earned $32.6 million in its debut weekend, as per industry monitor Exhibitor Relations.

Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel based story Verity tracks a struggling writer who is hired to complete the incomplete book of a well-known author. Despite receiving weak reviews and audience ratings, the film performed strongly at the box office.

Industry analyst David A. Gross of FranchiseRe Movies described the opening as an impressive result for an original psychological thriller, noting that audiences had still turned out in large numbers despite the mixed reception.

Sony’s Resident Evil remained in second place after collecting $12.5 million over the weekend. The film has now earned $125 million in North America after three weeks in cinemas.

Brad Pitt’s Heart of the Beast held on to third place with an estimated $11 million in its second weekend. The Paramount film follows a former soldier and his traumatised combat dog as they struggle to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.

Meanwhile, Digger opened in fourth place with $8 million. The black comedy stars Cruise as a wealthy and powerful man who triggers a climate disaster before attempting to present himself as the person capable of saving the world.

Gross said the result was not necessarily poor for a black comedy, but pointed out that the film’s $8 million opening was disappointing for a major Tom Cruise release.

Robert Pattinson’s Primetime dropped to fifth place with another $8 million. The film is stirred by the real-life television programme To Catch a Predator, which presented Chris Hansen and his team challenging people directed in sting operations.

The remaining films in the North American top 10 were Forgotten Island with $7.2 million, Avengers Endgame: Encore with $4.4 million, Practical Magic 2 with $2.65 million, Spider-Man: Brand New Day with $2.45 million and The Odyssey with $1.3 million.