“Melania,” the documentary about first lady Melania Trump, hit theaters this past weekend. And how did it do at the box office?
Well, the answer is complicated.
On one hand, it exceeded initial projections. It generated $7.04 million from 1,778 North American theaters. As Variety’s Rebecca Rubin notes, that’s a really nice start for a documentary, especially one that isn’t a concert film or about music. Considering projections were in the $3 million to $5 million range, surely some in Trump-land are considering the first weekend as a success.
OK, that’s pretty much where the positive news ends. Friday and Saturday might have helped the doc succeed initial expectations, but there was a dip after that.
So, perhaps it isn’t the total bomb that Trump critics figured it would be, but as CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote, “By financial standards, the film is not a winner, at least not yet. The company that financed it, Amazon MGM Studios, still has a long way to go to break even.”
While many can tout good numbers for a documentary, it should be pointed out how much it cost. The New York Times’ Brooks Barnes wrote, “No documentary has ever cost as much as ‘Melania.’”
Amazon spent $40 million to make “Melania,” with reportedly $28 million going to the first lady. In addition, Amazon spent $35 million to market it. It made $7 million in the first weekend when interest was at its highest. So, do the math.
Stelter wrote, “Given that the film won't be in theaters for long, there is no way that Amazon will recoup its costs just from the theatrical release. And this strengthens the argument Amazon's industry rivals have made for the past year: That the studio bought ‘Melania’ to curry favor with the Trump administration.”
However, Stelter smartly noted, “Box office figures are not the only way to measure success, since "Melania" and three companion TV episodes are going to stream on Prime Video, and the studio can eventually recoup more of its spend via advertising and Prime signups.”
When it’s all said and done, Trump fans will paint the documentary as a success, while detractors will call it a loser. As I said, it’s complicated.
This is not complicated
So what are people actually saying about the movie?
Well, the Rotten Tomatoes score of the documentary as of Sunday evening was at 10% — a number that appears to be boosted by new accounts that likely were Trump and/or Melania supporters.
You may have seen a false post on your social media feed that said Variety wrote that if the movie was shown on a plane, people would still walk out. However, to be clear, the Variety review did not include that line. However, Owen Gleiberman’s review for Variety was not a good one. Gleiberman wrote, “‘Melania’ is a documentary that never comes to life. It’s a ‘portrait’ of the First Lady of the United States, but it’s so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial. Is it cheesy? At moments, but mostly it’s inert. It feels like it’s been stitched together out of the most innocuous outtakes from a reality show. There’s no drama to it. It should have been called ‘Day of the Living Tradwife.’”
The headline on Alexandra Petri’s story for The Atlantic called “Melania” a “horror movie.” Petri wrote, “Fans of the Melania Cinematic Universe may wonder what has happened to the protagonist of Melania (the memoir) and Melania (the creator of the Cursed Red White House Christmas Forest) since her last foray into entertainment. Bad news! The first lady is trapped in an invisible bubble from which she will never be able to escape as long as she lives, and she hasn’t even noticed.”
Petri added, “Every so often, Melania almost senses that something is wrong; she experiences a ripple of genuine feeling when facing her grief over the loss of her mother and the raw anguish of an October 7 hostage whose husband was being held captive. But for the most part, the movie reveals how well insulated she is from anything resembling human life, like a cheetah in the house of a Russian oligarch.”
USA Today’s Brian Truitt wrote, “‘Melania’ doesn't quite work as a documentary, though that doesn't matter: People who don't like the Trumps won't go near the theater, and those who love the Trumps probably will. Just don't expect much insight either way: While it does offer an extremely flattering view of all things Melania, outside of a few candid glimpses, you're not going to learn a lot about who she really is.”
For The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck wrote, “To say that Melania is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies. This is a film that fawns so lavishly over its subject that you feel downright unpatriotic not gushing over it. Fittingly, it was directed by Brett Ratner, whose feature film career was derailed in 2017 after numerous sexual assault allegations that he has denied. But like many unsavory people associated with Donald Trump, he’s apparently received a pardon.”
In a brutal take on the movie, The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd wrote, “The perennial question about what Melania Trump is really like, behind her exquisite mannequin’s mask, has been answered by her new infomercial, ‘Melania.’ It turns out there is no riddle, no enigma, no mystery, no dark anguish. Melania is not Rapunzel in the tower, pining to be saved from the ogre imprisoning her. She is comfortable in the frosty vertical solitude of the tower, swaddled in luxury.”
Dowd added, “Melania is where she wants to be, in the bosom of a corrupt family that is prostituting the People’s House.”
And the headline on the column by the Los Angeles Times’ Mary McNamara: “‘Melania’ isn’t a documentary. It’s a cynical and stupefying piece of political propaganda.”
For more, check out The New York Times’ Melena Ryzik with “6 Takeaways from ‘Melania,’ the Documentary About the First Lady.”
Let’s not forget
Barnes wrote in the New York Times, “Amazon, of course, can also monetize ‘Melania’ on its Prime streaming service, where the film is expected to become available in three to four weeks. But the company’s spending on the documentary was so extreme — it paid $40 million for the rights alone, about $26 million more than the next closest bidder — that a question will linger: Was this all just an attempt for Amazon to ingratiate itself with President Trump?”
And the part that you can’t help but note is that Amazon announced just last week that it was laying off 16,000 employees, after laying off 14,000 last October.
In addition, The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is expected to undergo severe layoffs at any moment now — including reports that it may make deep cuts to the foreign staff and eliminate the sports section entirely.
Trump to shut down Kennedy Center for two years
Trump seemingly has broken the Kennedy Center. Now he is trying to fix it, at least physically.
In his second term, Trump put his name on the performing arts center, put his own hand-picked people in charge of it, and then even hosted the Kennedy Center honors. Of course, ever since Trump asserted control over the center, it has tanked, mostly because performer after performer has canceled appearances there as a protest against Trump.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump announced the Kennedy Center would close for two years starting on July 4 for renovations. Trump claimed funding is already secure, but didn’t say from where and for how much.
Iger stepping away?
