Tom Cruise's latest feature, Digger, is looking set for a disappointing three-day US opening of $8 million (£6 million).
That's the lowest start for Cruise since 2007's Robert Redford-directed drama Lions for Lambs, Deadline reports.
The big-budget dark comedy went up against Colleen Hoover's latest adaptation, Verity, which posted the second-best opening for a Hoover novel on the big screen after the problem-fraught It Ends With Us starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Verity came in at $33.6 million (£25.4 million), the outlet reports, followed in the top five grossing films by the Zach Cregger-helmed Resident Evil; Heart of the Beast starring Brad Pitt; Robert Pattinson's Primetime; and Digger.
Prior to its release, Digger was positioned as a major Oscar contender. Early stills and announcements led to pundits placing the Alejandro G. Iñárritu project high on Academy Award watchlists. That all changed when early screenings garnered mixed reviews.
While London's Evening Standard gave it a five-out-of-five score for its "audacious, risky, terrific fun", The New York Post dubbed it Cruise's "first real stinker in nearly 10 years", that "audiences will urgently want to leave after the first five minutes."
Digger supporting cast member Riz Ahmed has drawn praise and is tipped for a nomination nonetheless.
Cruise has earned three Best Actor Oscar nominations in the past for 1989's Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire in 1996 and Magnolia in 1999, but has never won. He did receive an honorary Oscar in 2025.