Hollywood’s Biggest Movie Star Flopped. What Now?

<p dir="ltr">In this episode, Sam asks: What even is a flop? And if a flop happens to the biggest movie star alive, is it actually something else altogether?&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">We&rsquo;re talking about Tom Cruise and his newest movie <em>&lsquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=job8V254NAE">Digger.</a>&rsquo;</em> Directed by Alejandro G. I&ntilde;&aacute;rritu, this was supposed to be Tom&rsquo;s ticket to finally win an Oscar&hellip;He has long been Hollywood&rsquo;s biggest brand ambassador after all.</p>

<p dir="ltr">But then, the movie flopped. Hard. Critically and commercially. How did this happen? What does it mean? And what does it say about the state of the movie industry, and the state of the &lsquo;movie star&rsquo; as we know it?</p>

<p dir="ltr">Sam dives into all of this with Amy Nicholson, film critic at the <em>&lsquo;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-04-02/drama-review-zendaya-robert-pattinson-alana-haim-kristoffer-borgli">Los Angeles Times</a>&rsquo;</em> and co-host of the <em>&lsquo;<a href="https://www.unspooledpodcast.com/">Unspooled</a>&rsquo;</em> podcast.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Sign up for <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/the-sam-sanders-show">Sam&rsquo;s Newsletter</a> to get behind the scenes stuff from every interview each week.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><em>The Sam Sanders Show</em> is a production of KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions.</p>

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