Tom Cruise’s “Digger” has been outperformed by Melania Trump’s documentary in one area of their box-office performance. The comparison was raised by Melania Trump’s senior adviser Marc Beckman, who pointed to the films’ theatrical results. His remarks have put the two very different releases side by side.
Melania Trump’s documentary outperformed Digger on a per-theater basis, according to her senior adviser
Marc Beckman, a senior adviser to Melania Trump, said the first lady’s documentary earned more per theater than Tom Cruise’s “Digger“. In a social media post, Beckman said “Melania” outperformed “Digger” by approximately 67% on a per-theater basis, despite being released in far fewer theaters.
Beckman wrote, “MELANIA, The Film // By The Numbers. On a per-theater basis, MELANIA outperformed Tom Cruise’s DIGGER by approximately 67%, despite opening in roughly half as many theaters. (Digger played in 1,543 more theaters than MELANIA).”
The comparison came after Cruise’s latest film opened with approximately $8 million in domestic ticket sales following its October 2 theatrical release. Meanwhile, “Melania” brought in an estimated $16.7 million during its theatrical run. The documentary, directed by Brett Ratner, was released in theaters in January this year. It recorded the biggest opening for a nonfiction film in a decade. Amazon reportedly spent $75 million to acquire the rights to the film and market it.
Beckman also compared “Melania” with films featuring Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio in a separate social media post. He noted, “Even more impressive was its efficiency. MELANIA generated $4,027 per theater during opening weekend—more than three times the per-theater performance of Julia Roberts’ recent wide release and approaching Leonardo DiCaprio’s, despite operating with less than half the theatrical footprint of a conventional Hollywood wide release.”
The comments followed the weak opening for “Digger”, which was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
