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By Marni Rose McFall
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The box office results for the Melania Trump documentary Melania have been revealed, and they are not what people expected.
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According to studio estimates released on Sunday, the documentary debuted with $7 million in ticket sales in its first weekend, and $2.9 million on its first day, following viral social media discourse about low ticket sales.
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Why It Matters
The film follows the First Lady in the lead-up to President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration. Melania Trump previously told Fox News that the 104-minute film provides a "private, unfiltered look as I navigate family, business, and philanthropy on my remarkable journey to becoming First Lady of the United States of America."
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Ahead of the film’s release, there were conflicting reports about how it would fare at the box office. Market research and cinema news site Boxoffice predicted the film would gross between $1 and $2 million in opening weekend ticket sales; however, Puck reported that National Research Group expects the movie to gross around $5 million.
What To Know
Melania earned $7 million on opening weekend, according to estimates released on Sunday, February 1, from Amazon and MGM Studios.
A report from Variety had slightly a higher estimate of $8.1 million by Sunday. Variety also reported that the documentary had grossed $2.9 million on Friday from 1,778 theaters.
It was the third-best-performing title of the weekend in the domestic top five, behind Iron Lung, the self-distributed indie horror from Mark Fischbach and Send Help, a desert island thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. Other movies released included Shelter and The Moment.
Both figures are above initial estimates. Amazon MGM paid $40 million for the film and films with these kinds of budgets have highly variable openings. Iron Lung had a significantly lower budget, of $3 million and had earned $8.9 million on Friday. Meanwhile, Send Help had a production budget of $40 million, the same as Melania's and earned $7.2 million on Friday, with a gap of around $5 million between the two titles.
Melania had the strongest recorded start of any documentary in more than a decade, but sits below popular documentary titles. The highest grossing documentary film of all time is Michael Jackson's This Is It, which earned $200 million against a budget of $155 million. Meanwhile, the 2020 documentary Becoming about former First Lady Michelle Obama was released on Netflix and did not have a theatrical debut, but did receive a positive critical reception, earning four Emmy nominations.
Melania has received a largely negative reception from Critics, with a 10 percent Tomatometer score.
Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic wrote in a review, "Ratner seems desperate to find action, but there is none. The pace is stultifying." Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote that the documentary is a "Cheese ball infomercial of staggering inertia," and The Independent’s Nick Hilton said that "To call Melania vapid would do a disservice to the plumes of florid vape smoke that linger around British teenagers. She calls herself a "mother, wife, daughter, friend," yet is only depicted preening and scowling." Those three reviews were all one star.
Audience reviews of the film though, have been much more positive, with the audience-powered Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes sitting at a 99 percent approval rating. One audience review reads "Classy movie. Loved every minute of it!" while another read "A very private look at the work put in before inauguration Shows her commitment to the children in need."
There was wide mockery of the film online as social media users commented on the film's low ticket sales. In a previous review of show listings at AMC Theatres in different theaters around the country by Newsweek, ticket sales had varied from state to state, but mostly, tickets were easily available for all showings of the film in the theaters reviewed, despite the president’s assertion that showings were "selling out fast."
The film had been widely criticized, in part due to the timing of the release, given the ongoing unrest in Minnesota over ICE operations. Some argued that the film's release should have been delayed.
The project also marked a return to filmmaking for Brett Ratner, who had previously moved to Israel in 2017 following allegations of sexual misconduct. He has denied wrongdoing and not been charged with any offenses, but his attachment to the project has prompted criticism.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump in a post on X on January 31: "Last night I saw, "MELANIA," for the second time. The audience loved it, and so do I. Check it out—A MUST SEE!"
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in a post on X on January 25, viewed 1.4 million times: "Today DHS assassinated a VA nurse in the street, Bondi is attempting to extort voter files, and half the country is bracing on the eve of a potentially crippling ice storm with FEMA gutted. So what is the President up to? Having a movie night at the White House. He’s unfit."
First Lady Melania Trump, in a post on X on January 25: "MELANIA, the film A Historic Moment. I am deeply humbled to have been surrounded by an inspiring room of friends, family, and cultural iconoclasts at the White House last night. Each of these individuals each brought their unique vision to the world, making a lasting impression. Our personal stories endure time and serve as a reminder of our mutual obligation to one another. It was an honor to present my new film, MELANIA, ahead of its global launch."
The account Republicans Against Trump, in a post on X viewed over 200,000 times: “‘MELANIA’ opened to a 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic: "I’d rather rewatch January 6th." That tracks."
What Happens Next?
Melania will be available to stream on Prime, but a release date is yet to be confirmed.
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