{"id":563637,"date":"2026-02-03T16:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/563637\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T16:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:05:10","slug":"amazons-75-million-melania-trump-documentary-beats-forecasts-to-become-box-office-surprise-not-involved-says-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/563637\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon’s $75 Million Melania Trump Documentary Beats Forecasts To Become Box Office Surprise: ‘Not Involved,’ Says President"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon.com, Inc.<\/strong> (NASDAQ:<\/a>AMZN<\/a>)-owned MGM Studios’ documentary about First Lady Melania Trump<\/strong> is exceeding box office expectations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Breakout Opening Weekend For A Polarizing Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

The documentary “Melania” is on pace to earn about $7 million in its opening weekend, far surpassing forecasts for a nonfiction release and ranking among the strongest documentary debuts in years, reported CNN.<\/p>\n

Industry analysts had projected a much lower haul of $2 million to $5 million.<\/p>\n

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Ticket sales reflected a sharp red-state versus blue-state divide, with the film performing best in Republican-leaning markets including Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach, according to industry sources, the report said.<\/p>\n

An Unprecedented Price Tag Raises Eyebrows<\/strong><\/p>\n

The film’s success comes amid scrutiny over its cost. Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million for the rights<\/a> and spent an additional $35 million on marketing.<\/p>\n

A Wall Street Journal report said Melania Trump’s share exceeded 70% of the licensing fee, or at least $28 million, prompting speculation that Amazon was attempting to build goodwill with the Trump administration, the report said.<\/p>\n

Critics, including late-night host Desi Lydic<\/strong>, openly questioned the deal’s motives.<\/p>\n

Amazon rejected those claims. “We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only \u2014 because we think customers are going to love it,” the company said.<\/p>\n

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Audience Applause, Critical Backlash<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moviegoers responded positively, giving “Melania” an A CinemaScore, something the first lady shared on X<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Critics were far less impressed. As of Sunday morning, the film holds an 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes<\/strong>, with reviewers calling it a promotional vehicle rather than a traditional documentary.<\/p>\n

The Bulwark’s Sonny Bunch<\/strong> described the project as a reality-TV-style hagiography aimed squarely at Trump supporters.<\/p>\n

Amazon Bets On Streaming, Not Theaters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite its strong opening, the film is unlikely to recoup its costs theatrically, the report noted. The real value lies in its eventual release on Prime Video<\/strong>, alongside three companion episodes.<\/p>\n

“We are confident in the long-term value this rollout will deliver,” said Kevin Wilson<\/strong>, Amazon MGM’s head of domestic theatrical distribution.<\/p>\n

See Also: Wall Street’s $12B Real Estate Manager Is Opening Its Doors to Individual Investors \u2014 Without the Crowdfunding Middlemen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump Distances Himself \u2014 Then Promotes The Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asked about the film at its Washington premiere by a New York Times reporter, President Donald Trump<\/strong> said, “I’m not involved. That was done with my wife.”<\/p>\n

On X, Trump said, “The audience loved it, and so do I. Check it out \u2014 A MUST SEE!”<\/p>\n

\n

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Photo Courtesy: Debby Wong on Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n

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This article Amazon’s $75 Million Melania Trump Documentary Beats Forecasts To Become Box Office Surprise: ‘Not Involved,’ Says President<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)-owned MGM Studios’ documentary about First Lady Melania Trump is exceeding box office expectations. A Breakout…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":563638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[6229,185,69,171,59,13754,234606,245952,115028,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-563637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-amazon-com","tag-celebrities","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-inc","tag-melania-trump","tag-mgm-studios","tag-polarizing-film","tag-trump-supporters","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116007555826484471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}