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U.S. First Lady Melania Trump’s team did not miss the opportunity to take a jab at Tom Cruise following the disappointing box-office debut of his latest film. First Lady’s adviser Marc Beckman publicly compared the performance of Cruise’s Digger with the low-budget biographical documentary MELANIA, pointing out that the film about Melania earned significantly more per theater.

Beckman shared the comparison on X following the disastrous opening weekend of Digger, an environmental satire in which Cruise unexpectedly stepped away from his usual action-hero persona to play a gray-haired older man.

The partnership between Cruise and director Alejandro González Iñárritu initially seemed like an almost foolproof proposition for Warner Bros. But the R-rated film opened in more than 3,000 theaters and received a decidedly lukewarm response from audiences. On CinemaScore, it earned a dismal “C.”

Digger grossed just $20 million worldwide during its opening weekend, including only $8 million in the U.S. market. According to Deadline, it was the weakest box-office debut of Tom Cruise’s career.

The studio said the film cost $125 million to produce, although outside estimates put the budget closer to $150 million.

With nearly $100 million reportedly spent on marketing, the project’s total losses could reach $150 million, potentially making it one of the year’s biggest box-office disappointments.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 51 percent positive rating from critics and 72 percent from audiences.

Box-office analyst David A. Gross described the project as an “eccentric story” that ultimately failed to connect with audiences.

Against that backdrop, MELANIA unexpectedly performed much better. The documentary opened in 1,543 fewer theaters than Digger, but, as Beckman pointed out, it outperformed Cruise’s film by roughly 67 percent on a per-theater basis.

In total, MELANIA delivered the strongest documentary opening in a decade, grossing $16.7 million.

Although the project was technically unprofitable as well — Amazon paid $40 million for the rights to the film and spent another $35 million promoting it — its performance far exceeded industry expectations.

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