The documentary, Melania, focuses on the 20 days leading up to President Trump’s return to the White House and how the First Lady transitioned her family back to the Capital. Upon opening in Ireland and the UK, the film grossed a mere £32,974 in its opening weekend, averaging £245 across 155 cinemas.
For context in, its opening box office number in comparison with the top of the charts, Hamnet led the way in the same weekend with a gross of €1,623,988. The documentary continues to be mixed in controversy, with The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Irish Times pointing out how the documentary feels like propaganda. The New York Times emphasized the importance of displaying this journey for the President and First Lady.
Amongst the controversy was an Oregon theater, The Lake Theater & Cafe, promoting the film by subtly mocking it. The theater is known in Oregon for poking fun at films in its advertising and for Melania, their billboard read, “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday.” They also quoted Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. Melania starts Friday.” Jordan Perry, Theater Manager, revealed they received a call from Amazon asking them to cease showing the documentary. The area in Oregon is very left-leaning, so the film grossed less than $200 in its single weekend, with Perry acknowledging his intent was to poke fun at the entire situation, and the theater did receive fan backlash for showing the film at all. After Amazon requested the film be pulled, the billboard read, “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead.”
The release of Melania also revived interest in another documentary, Michelle Obama’s Becoming. The documentary, released in 2020, and followed the former First Lady on her 2018 book tour. NewsNation reports that during Melania’s opening weekend, the Netflix documentary saw a 13,300 percent surge in viewership and jumped from 354,000 minutes watched to a staggering 47.5 million. Entertainment data company Luminate provided the numbers, and communications director Jimmy Harney was quoted as saying:
The resurgence of interest in ‘Becoming,’ is a prime example of audiences discovering, or re-discovering, catalog content due to larger conversations in the zeitgeist.
Melania is still playing in theaters following the $7 million plus opening in North America.
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