What Format Should You Choose For Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’?

Whatever you think of the man, a new Tom Cruise film is always an event, and when it’s not a Top Gun or Mission: Impossible movie, it’s even more notable. While those franchises are known quantities, his latest project, Digger — arriving in cinemas on October 2 nd , 2026 — is anything but.

Working with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who won back-to-back Best Director Academy Awards for Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015), this is a frankly bonkers-looking dark comedy pastiche of billionaire tycoons and climate change deniers. Cruise is flanked by a formidable cast, including John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg and Sandra Hüller.

Whether the film will work for you is up for debate and the critics have largely not warmed to it, but for those who want to decide for themselves, this is a movie that demands the big screen experience.

For a start, it’s shot on VistaVision , a film format from the 1950s and 60s that has been making a comeback, having been used in The Brutalist (2024) and last year’s Best Picture-winning One Battle After Another (2025).

An 8-perf 35mm format, like IMAX film, it runs horizontally through the camera to create a bigger frame, increasing image quality with a tall native aspect ratio of 1.50:1.

As per One Battle After Another , this is getting a run out in select theaters on original VistaVision projectors to create the most authentic presentation possible. According to In70mm.com , there are only five such locations worldwide showing it in this format: in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston, USA, one in London, UK, and one in Melbourne, Australia. If you have the opportunity, this is the definitive way to experience the film.

Of course, that’s an exclusive club, so unless you’re in the radius of one of these locations, you’ll want to look at other options. As no film prints were struck outside of VistaVision, the IMAX 1.43:1 screens, which closely match the native 1.50:1 shape of the VistaVision film, is the best way to see it. However, without film, these require dual laser projection. In the UK, for example, there is only one location that offers this combination: the Vue Printworks in Manchester, but this is moot as it is not being presented there at all, in IMAX, with ‘The Odyssey’ in IMAX 70mm , maintaining its dominance.

Standard Digital IMAX auditoriums are limited to 1.90:1 aspect ratio screens, but as long as it’s significantly larger than a standard screen means you’ll still get to enjoy the quality that the original VistaVision film stock can generate. This is especially true if it’s an IMAX laser projector, as this will offer a brighter image with great color and contrast in 4K resolution. However, older IMAX screens are likely to be using dual Xenon lamp projector systems for effective 2.9K, which won’t have the same punch.

If that’s the case, then you may want to seek out a Dolby Cinema. The film has been graded to take advantage of Dolby’s dual-laser system that delivers Dolby Vision, up to 108 nits of brightness (standard digital cinema is 48 nits) and deep blacks for an extended dynamic range image, as well as a wider range of colors than standard screens. The image is also matched with Dolby Atmos audio for intense spatial surround sound. What’s more, Dolby screens offer comfortable seating for the two-hour, nine-minute runtime.

HDR by Barco is a rival to Dolby Cinema, offering even greater brightness levels for a full high dynamic range image. Interestingly, there does not appear to be an HDR by Barco grade listed on Barco’s website.

Other than IMAX and Dolby then, you should seek cinema-branded premium large format screens, which combine extra-large screens, laser projection, Dolby Atmos audio and premium seating – and are an appreciable upgrade over standard screens. In the U.S., these go under brand names such as Prime at AMC, Regal RPX, Cineplex UltraAVX, and Cinemark XD. In the UK, these can be found as Cineworld Superscreen, Odeon iSense, or OmniplexMAXX.

That then is your lot for Digger format choices. It may be confounding critics, but it is a technical achievement worth evaluating for yourself — provided you choose the right format.