Staffers for First Lady Melania Trump mocked Tom Cruise on Tuesday after his latest big-budget film flopped at the box office, pointing out that her low-budget biographical documentary outperformed his newest release on a per-theater average.
Marc Beckman, a senior advisor to the first lady, posted the comparison online following a disastrous opening weekend for Cruise’s environmental satire “Digger.”
Pairing Cruise with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu for a billionaire satire initially seemed like a safe bet for Warner Bros. However, the R-rated film opened in more than 3,000 locations to a dismal reception. Moviegoers rejected Cruise’s departure from action roles to play a gray-haired older man, leaving the movie with a “C” CinemaScore.
The film grossed just $20 million globally in its debut — including a meager $8 million domestically — making it the biggest box-office bomb of Cruise’s career by a wide margin, as reported by Deadline.
The studio stated the movie cost $125 million, but outside estimates put the budget closer to $150 million following production delays when co-star John Goodman suffered an injury on set, according to The New York Times.
With nearly $100 million spent on marketing, total losses could reach $150 million, making it one of the year’s largest box-office failures.
The project’s severe underperformance followed general confusion among both critics and fans over why Cruise agreed to star in the bizarre satire to begin with.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a divisive 51 percent score from critics and a 72 percent audience rating.
Box-office consultant David A. Gross described the project as an “eccentric story” that ultimately failed to connect with viewers.
By contrast, the documentary “MELANIA” turned into an unexpected hit. Despite opening in 1,543 fewer theaters than “Digger,” Beckman noted that “MELANIA” beat Cruise’s movie by roughly 67 percent per theater.
The film went on to record the highest opening weekend for a non-fiction movie in a decade, eventually grossing $16.7 million overall. Though still a loss on paper, given that Amazon spent $40 million to acquire the documentary and $35 million to market it, the performance far exceeded industry expectations.
The unexpected theatrical run also provided a career revival for director Brett Ratner, who had been effectively exiled from Hollywood following sexual misconduct allegations during the #MeToo movement.
Leveraging the documentary’s surprising performance, Ratner successfully exited industry isolation and is now set to direct the next installment of the “Rush Hour” franchise — a project President Donald Trump had publicly pushed to get made.
The overall weekend box office was topped by Amazon MGM’s psychological thriller “Verity,” which opened to $33 million, driven largely by women who embraced the Colleen Hoover adaptation.
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