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Melania, a documentary about the enigmatic first lady, opens in more than 3,000 cinemas worldwide today. It follows Melania Trump in the lead up to her husband’s inauguration last year.
So what? This is no normal documentary. Amazon paid $40m for the rights in a bidding war, as Hollywood studios sought to curry favour with the incoming administration. Its theatrical release is bigger than those of Oscar winners Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once. But the film
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has struggled to sell tickets;
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is one of the costliest documentaries ever made; and
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provides another example of how the Trump family has cashed in on the presidency.
Crowded field. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dined at Mar-a-Lago the night before the bid. His studio saw off competition from Netflix, Paramount and Disney, which put in the second highest bid of $14m. Melania reportedly took $28m of the $40m production fee.
Hey big spender. A further $35m is being spent on marketing the film. This makes it more expensive than recent hits such as Conclave and A Complete Unknown.
Closely guarded. Critics have not been allowed to access the film before its release, but Donald Trump has given it an enthusiastic review. On Monday he said: "MELANIA, the Movie, is a MUST WATCH. Get your tickets today – Selling out, FAST!"
Not quite. UK ticket sales have been “soft”, according to Tim Richards from Vue International. As of yesterday afternoon, two tickets had been booked for the 6pm viewing at Vue York. All seats remained available for screenings at the Blackburn, Castleford and Hamilton branches.
Closer to home. At Mar-a-Lago’s local fleapit, the Regal Royal Palm Beach, 234 of 1,770 seats were booked at the time of writing. Local Republicans have reportedly bulk bought tickets to give away to the party faithful. But selling and filling seats are not the same thing.
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Comeback kid. Melania is directed by Brett Ratner, who was behind the Rush Hour franchise, Red Dragon and X-Men: The Last Stand. He is exiled from Hollywood following accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct by several women, which he denies. He hasn’t directed a movie since 2014.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of the crew that worked on the film have reportedly requested not to have their names credited.
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Keeping to herself. Melania has cultivated an inscrutable public profile and makes few appearances. In her husband’s first term, she replanted and restored the White House rose garden. This term, the president plans to pave over it to turn it into a patio.
That said, she is credited as an influential voice, shaping Trump’s views on Gaza and the Kremlin. A poll last year named her as the tenth most important person in the administration.
Between the lines. Although the contents of the documentary are still unknown, her 2024 memoir gives some indication at what to expect. Although she wrote about being pro-choice and opposed to Trump’s family separation policy, she gave little else away. One reviewer concluded that “it was barely a book. It’s a book-adjacent object.”
What’s more… Melania is no stranger to earning money from the family name, launching a meme coin last year. A group of traders reportedly earned $100m by buying it before it went public.
Photograph by Andy Hall for The Observer