Amazon’s ‘Melania’ documentary stumbles in second weekend

Following a stronger-than-anticipated debut in theatres, Amazon’s documentary Melania saw box office revenue drop sharply in its second weekend. Ticket sales fell 67%, bringing in an estimated $2.37 million over the period.

The film, which centres on First Lady Melania Trump, has now generated roughly $13.5 million in total box office receipts, with nearly all of that revenue coming from U.S. theatres. Given those numbers, it appears highly unlikely that the documentary will recoup its costs at the box office. Amazon reportedly paid $40 million to acquire the film and spent an additional $35 million promoting it.

Ahead of the documentary’s release, a former Amazon film executive publicly questioned the motivation behind the unusually high price tag, asking how it could be explained by anything other than “currying favour” with the Trump administration or possibly “an outright bribe.”

While Super Bowl weekend traditionally leads to slower moviegoing, the weekend’s top performer, Send Help, experienced a much smaller decline, with ticket sales slipping just 47%. After finishing third at the box office the previous weekend, Melania dropped to ninth place this time around.

Seemingly anticipating scrutiny over the steep second-weekend drop, Amazon stated that Kevin Wilson, the company’s head of domestic theatrical distribution. “Together, theatrical and streaming represent two distinct value-creating moments that amplify the film’s overall impact,” Wilson said.

Although Melania was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, it posted a striking 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes — a rating so high that the site released a statement confirming the score’s authenticity.