Hollywood's Wild Weekend: Verity Tops, Digger Crashes, Tobey's Divorce Final
October 3, 2026 — Hollywood's first big October weekend is turning into one of the year's most dramatic box-office stories. Anne Hathaway's psychological thriller Verity is heading for the top of the charts with a projected $30–35 million domestic opening, while Tom Cruise's dark satire Digger is crashing toward one of the worst wide openings of the actor's entire career. Off-screen, Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire is officially divorced ten years after his split, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon premiered their new crime thriller Animals ahead of its Netflix release, and Bradley Cooper has signed on to lead Paramount's rebooted G.I. Joe movie.
Here is Showbiz Daily's complete Hollywood weekend report — the live tracking on the Verity vs Digger clash, what the brutal opening numbers mean, the biggest celebrity story of the week, and the premiere and casting news shaking up the industry.
Verity rules the weekend: $3.4M previews, $55M global start on the cards
The Anne Hathaway–Dakota Johnson thriller Verity — the big-screen take on Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2018 novel — has taken the decisive early lead in this weekend's box-office battle. The film banked $3.4 million in Thursday night previews, and trackers have it opening to $30–35 million domestically across 3,510 theatres, per Variety's reporting. Deadline adds that the film could pull in $20–25 million from 70 offshore territories, setting up a $50–55 million worldwide debut — a strong start for a film made on a reported $40 million budget.
The film stars Anne Hathaway as Verity Crawford and Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, with Josh Hartnett co-starring, and is directed by Michael Showalter from a script he co-wrote with Nick Antosca. In the story, struggling writer Lowen is hired to complete the unfinished books of an incapacitated bestselling author — and stumbles on a disturbing manuscript that cracks open the family's secrets. Hathaway also serves as a producer on the film alongside Showalter, Hoover and Antosca, while Johnson is an executive producer.
Why it matters: Verity is the fourth Colleen Hoover book to reach cinemas after It Ends With Us, and studios have been watching it nervously — no new Hoover novels have been optioned since the It Ends With Us wave, and a solid result here could unlock adaptations of Ugly Love, Hopeless and All Your Perfects. Critics have not been kind (36% on Rotten Tomatoes, 45 on Metacritic), but as It Ends With Us proved, Hoover's passionate readership can bury bad reviews. Note: all figures here are live trade-tracker estimates, not studio-official numbers.
Digger stumbles: Cruise faces his worst wide opening since 2012
On the other side of the ring, Tom Cruise's Digger — Alejandro G. Iñárritu's apocalyptic dark satire from Warner Bros. and Legendary — is shaping up to be one of the biggest box-office bombs of the year. The film earned just $1.2 million in previews and is now projected to open to only $12–15 million — which would make it the lowest wide opening of Cruise's career since 2012's Rock of Ages.
The cast reads like an awards-season dream team: Cruise as Digger Rockwell, a bombastic Texas oil tycoon in old-age makeup and a prosthetic pot belly whose company's drilling triggers a catastrophic environmental disaster — alongside Oscar winner Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Emma D'Arcy. Iñárritu shot the film entirely in VistaVision and brought back his long-time collaborators, including cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro. But critics found Cruise's relentless energy fatiguing and the satire heavy-handed: 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, 46 on Metacritic.
Why it matters: The film reportedly cost $160 million to produce. At a $12–15 million opening, Warner Bros. is staring at a nine-figure write-down on a film released in theatres and IMAX across North America. For Cruise — coming off his box-office runs in recent years — it is a rare, spectacular misfire, and a reminder that even two Academy winners and a prestige satire are no match for a bad opening-weekend word of mouth.
Anne Hathaway's golden 2026: a third No. 1 film?
If Verity finishes top of the weekend as expected, it will hand Anne Hathaway her third No. 1 movie of 2026 — an extraordinary year by any measure. Earlier this year she starred in The Devil Wears Prada 2, which grossed $693 million worldwide, and in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which has crossed $1.72 billion. Verity is her fifth film of the year, following Mother Mary and The End of Oak Street — and she is also producing, not just starring. The busy awards-season campaigner even did a final SiriusXM publicity push the morning of release day.
The weekend's other holdovers tell their own story: Resident Evil is expected to add $12–16 million in its third weekend, Heart of the Beast around $11–14 million in its second, and A24's Primetime roughly $9 million. Audiences may be cooler on the critics' picks, but they are still showing up in force.
Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer officially divorced, 10 years after split
The week's biggest celebrity story broke on October 2: Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer are officially divorced. Page Six exclusively revealed court documents showing the couple's marital status was terminated on September 21, with the judgment filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 1 — restoring both to single-person status a decade after their separation.
The timeline is almost as long as the marriage itself: the Spider-Man star, 51, and the jewellery designer, 49, met at Universal Studios in 2003 while Maguire was filming Seabiscuit, married on September 3, 2007, and announced their separation in October 2016 after nine years of marriage. Meyer formally filed for divorce in October 2020, citing irreconcilable differences; Maguire filed his response in July 2025, seeking joint legal and physical custody of their son Otis. The pair share daughter Ruby, 19, and son Otis, 17.
Crucially, this is a bifurcated judgment — the marriage is legally over, but the court kept jurisdiction over the remaining unresolved divorce issues, which the exes will continue working through with a private judge. Meyer is engaged to music executive Geoffrey Ogunlesi, whom she started dating in 2022 and got engaged to in 2024; the couple welcomed a baby girl in May 2026. Despite everything, the pair remain strikingly friendly: Meyer has called Maguire her “best friend,” the “best ex-husband” and “the best dad,” telling a podcast that “Geoff loves [Tobey], and he loves Geoff. And so everything just works.”
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon premiere Animals ahead of Netflix release
Hollywood's most famous best-friend duo hit the red carpet on October 1: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon attended the premiere of Animals at the Westwood Village Theater in Los Angeles, joined by Damon's wife Luciana and co-stars Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Mendez, Adriana Paz and Ray Fisher.
Affleck wrote, directed and stars in the crime thriller, which follows a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife after their son is kidnapped — as they scramble to raise the ransom, they are pulled into a web of deception that threatens to tear their world apart. Damon was originally set to play the lead but had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts with The Odyssey when that film was delayed — he stayed on as a producer alongside his wife. The film arrives in select theatres and on Netflix on October 9, and with Affleck directing and both friends producing, it is one of the highest-profile streaming premieres of the month.
Bradley Cooper cast as Duke in Paramount's new G.I. Joe movie
Casting news of the week: Bradley Cooper is set to play Duke, the field commander and leader of the G.I. Joe team, in Paramount's upcoming G.I. Joe movie. The project is being directed and co-written by Danny McBride — and per Deadline, Cooper was at the top of McBride's wish list once he landed the job; after reading the script and meeting the filmmaker, Cooper wanted the part and negotiations began in recent weeks.
The connection is a fun one: Cooper previously appeared in McBride's HBO series The Righteous Gemstones, playing an ancestor of the Gemstone family, Elijah Gemstone. McBride is writing the screenplay with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri, and Paramount has confirmed the film is being developed separately from the Transformers universe, despite the crossover teased at the end of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Cooper's schedule is packed — he is also writing, directing and starring opposite Margot Robbie in the upcoming Ocean's prequel — so the G.I. Joe reboot will have to line up behind it.
October 2 weekend scorecard
| Film | Studio | Weekend projection | Budget (reported) | Critical score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verity | Amazon MGM Studios | $30–35M domestic; $50–55M global | ~$40M | 36% RT / 45 Metacritic |
| Digger | Warner Bros. / Legendary | $12–15M domestic | ~$160M | 51% RT / 46 Metacritic |
| Resident Evil (3rd weekend) | Sony | $12–16M | — | — |
| Heart of the Beast (2nd weekend) | — | $11–14M | — | — |
| Primetime (2nd weekend) | A24 | ~$9M | — | — |
All opening figures are live trade-tracker estimates and will shift as final numbers come in. The verdict so far: audiences came for Hathaway and Hoover, and stayed away from Cruise's oil-tycoon satire.
Related coverage on Showbiz Daily
Keep up with the stories behind this weekend: our Thursday Hollywood report on Verity's $35 million opening projection, Digger's slow advance bookings and the Pee-Wee Herman auction; yesterday's Drishyam 3 release-day report, which tracked this same crowded Friday from the Bollywood side; the full October–December 2026 Hollywood release calendar with every release date, cast and trailer detail; and September's Hollywood box-office verdicts — the winners and losers of last month.
FAQs
How much is Verity expected to earn on its opening weekend?
Trade trackers project $30–35 million domestically across 3,510 theatres, plus $20–25 million from 70 offshore territories — a $50–55 million worldwide debut. These are trade-tracker estimates, not studio-official figures.
Why is Tom Cruise's Digger considered a box-office bomb?
Digger earned only $1.2 million in previews and is projected to open to just $12–15 million — the lowest wide opening of Tom Cruise's career since 2012's Rock of Ages — against a reported production budget of $160 million. Critics gave it 51% on Rotten Tomatoes and 46 on Metacritic.
When did Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer officially get divorced?
Their marital status was terminated on September 21, 2026, with the judgment filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on October 1, 2026 — ten years after their 2016 separation. The judgment is bifurcated: the marriage is legally over, but remaining divorce issues continue separately with a private judge.
When does Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Animals release on Netflix?
Animals premieres in select theatres and on Netflix on October 9, 2026. Affleck wrote, directed and stars in the kidnapping thriller; Damon was originally set to play the lead but stayed on as a producer after scheduling conflicts with The Odyssey.
Who is Bradley Cooper playing in the new G.I. Joe movie?
Cooper will play Duke, the field commander and leader of the G.I. Joe team, in Paramount's reboot directed and co-written by Danny McBride. The film is being developed separately from the Transformers universe.
Who stars in Verity and who directed it?
Anne Hathaway stars as Verity Crawford, Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh and Josh Hartnett as Jeremy Crawford, in Michael Showalter's adaptation of Colleen Hoover's 2018 novel. Hathaway also serves as a producer and Johnson as an executive producer.