of Amazon Melania Trump Documentary It beat box office expectations and recorded the strongest opening of any documentary in a decade, grossing more than $8m at the US box office in its lavishly-promoted opening weekend. At the same time, Melania was unable to turn a profit because it cost $40 million to make and $35 million to promote.
And Amazon — which recently cut 16,000 corporate jobs — has been hit by criticism that making a documentary about the first lady and paying too much for it was little more than a ploy to curry favor with her husband, Donald Trump, during his second term as president.
Next image Melania Trump As she prepares to re-enter the White House in early 2025, she has been trounced at the box office by two horror films: Iron Lung and Rachel McAdams’ Send Help. But the action film managed to beat Shelter.
Melania has made her fortunes by targeting older conservatives and is known for carefully playing up issues close to the interests of her husband’s fans: patriotism, Christianity and the importance of family.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that the Brett Ratner-directed documentary defied expectations that it would bomb “based on maps of empty or nearly empty seats in movie theaters across the country.”
The outlet estimated that the film was a hit with conservatives in the southern US, particularly women over 55, with 72% of the opening day audience.
Research firm Entelligence estimates that rural theaters will account for about 46% of the opening-weekend box office, and those in Republican counties will account for 53% of ticket sales. The top box office states for the film include the conservative strongholds of Florida and Texas.
Melania, however, received overwhelmingly negative critical reviews. The Guardian judged it to be “depressing, gruesome and unrevealing”.
“A good documentary to be made about a former model from Slovenia, but it’s unredeemable,” the Guardian’s one-star review Said.
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter described it as an “expensive propaganda document” and “a film so lavish of its subject matter that you feel utterly unpatriotic about it”. In the trailing credits, the first lady’s accomplishments are included “in a manner so admirable as to make North Korea blush.”
Donald Trump recently told reporters he was “not involved” in the negotiations over the documentary’s $75 million price tag. Melania Trump said that the producers approached many distributors, and “Amazon is the best because they agreed to do theaters all over the world.”
Film director Brett Ratner — who largely retreated from Hollywood after several sexual misconduct allegations during the #MeToo movement — was bluntly asked at the premiere by Melania if he thought he was part of a larger quid pro quo.
“It’s ridiculous, but okay, I’ll answer,” he said. “We were audited and asked, ‘How much did this movie cost?’ If they say that, I can tell you right now. The film is one of the most expensive films of its genre – documentaries – ever made.”
“It’s not about getting rich. I mean, I think the Trumps are rich and successful enough. It’s about giving me the ability to hire the best crew in the world, not just score a movie with the best composer … I mean, when you see the movie, you go, ‘Oh, we’ll see where the money went now.’ It is not about corruption. Melania only cared about one thing – making a great movie for the audience.
On the same day Melania opened in theaters, Ratner appeared in photos released by Trump’s Justice Department as part of the release of 3 million files on late-convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Photos Picture Ratner with Epstein, with his arms wrapped around a woman between them.
Ratner has not commented publicly.
The people named or seen in the images included in the so-called Epstein files have not been implicated in or convicted of crimes. Many prominent people associated with Epstein, Trump’s former friend, have denied wrongdoing.
