The movie world wasn’t ready for this surprise: Melania Trump’s documentary, Melania, opened with box office numbers that completely defied expectations.
Critics predicted a quiet debut, but the film grossed an impressive $7 million across the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend.
That makes it the most successful non-concert documentary to hit theaters since 2012, leaving Hollywood insiders scrambling to make sense of the phenomenon.
Critics Slam, Audiences Applaud
Despite the box office shock, critics were far from impressed.
Rotten Tomatoes gave Melania a mere 10 percent approval rating from professional reviewers, and media analysts openly questioned its performance.
CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out that while Amazon MGM Studios celebrated strong ticket sales, the documentary is still nowhere near turning a profit, which is typically how Hollywood measures success.
Similarly, The Daily Beast highlighted that the film is still $68 million in the red despite the excitement around its numbers.
Yet audiences couldn’t get enough.
Viewer ratings on Rotten Tomatoes soared to 99 percent, CinemaScore exit polls handed the documentary an A grade, and Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak ratings awarded it five stars.
Clearly, what critics dismissed, viewers embraced wholeheartedly.
Breaking Box Office Records for Documentaries
Melania didn’t just beat projections—it smashed them. Initial estimates suggested ticket sales between $3 and $5 million, but the documentary more than doubled that.
Jeff Bock, senior media analyst at Exhibitor Relations, noted that surpassing $1 million is already a huge achievement for a documentary, making Melania’s $7 million an extraordinary feat.
For perspective, documentaries outside of concert films rarely hit big numbers.
The last comparable success was Chimpanzee in 2012, which earned $10.7 million domestically—about $15 million when adjusted for inflation.
Audience Demographics and Regional Trends
The documentary’s appeal skewed toward a very specific audience.
Amazon reported that 70 percent of ticket buyers were women over 55, and Republican-leaning counties accounted for 53 percent of domestic sales.
States like Florida, Texas, and Arizona proved particularly strong markets.
Interestingly, theaters in rural areas contributed nearly half of domestic ticket sales, a much higher share than usual for opening weekends.
Financial Reality Behind the Buzz
While the opening weekend numbers turned heads, the financial picture remains challenging.
Amazon reportedly spent $40 million to acquire the distribution rights and another $35 million marketing the documentary.
With 1,778 U.S. theaters keeping roughly half the ticket revenue, Amazon has so far recouped only about $3.5 million of its $75 million investment.
Internationally, the film is showing in 1,600 theaters, but early reports suggest weaker performance abroad.
Prime Video will offer another revenue opportunity, as Melania is expected to stream on the platform in three to four weeks.
Still, industry analysts estimate that Amazon will need tens of millions more in earnings to break even.
Some critics speculate that Amazon’s unusually high bid—$26 million more than the next offer—may have been intended to curry favor with the Trump family.
Amazon maintains that the purchase was solely based on audience interest and that the company is “very encouraged” by the opening weekend.
Behind the Camera: Brett Ratner’s Return
The documentary was directed by Brett Ratner, best known for the Rush Hour series, marking his first feature since 2017.
Ratner had faced sexual misconduct allegations from six women, which he denies.
During the documentary’s production, Ratner followed Melania Trump for 20 days in January of last year, ending with President Trump’s inauguration.
Ratner also surfaced in the Epstein files in a photograph with Jean-Luc Brunel, a deceased French modeling agent associated with Jeffrey Epstein.
The photo lacked a date or location and added another layer of intrigue to the director’s return to Hollywood.
What’s Next for Melania?
Despite polarized opinions, Melania has proven there’s a strong audience for politically adjacent documentaries, especially those tied to prominent figures.
The next step will be streaming, and only time will tell whether Amazon can turn the buzz into actual profit.
For now, the documentary has left both Hollywood skeptics and enthusiastic viewers talking—and counting tickets.
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