“Melania,” the controversial documentary featuring first lady Melania Trump, surprised at the box office, notching a $7 million opening weekend, according to estimates released Sunday, Feb. 1, by Amazon MGM Studios.
Directed by Brett Ratner, who has been in Hollywood exile since denying sexual harassment allegations in 2017, “Melania” had been tracking for a $3 million to $5 million opening. The movie follows the 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in 2025, from his wife’s perspective. Final box-office numbers will be announced Feb. 2.
Anything over $1 million is “a huge number,” said Jeff Bock, senior media analyst for Exhibitor Relations, in an interview with USA TODAY the week before release. “That would mean that a lot of folks who don’t normally go to the movies went to this.”
The documentary “Melania” follows first lady Melania Trump in the 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in 2025.
The “Melania” opening was good enough to place third in the domestic top five for the weekend. It was behind two horror-leaning debuts – survival comedy/thriller “Send Help” ($20 million) and indie scary movie “Iron Lung” ($17.9 million) – but fared better than Disney sequel “Zootopia 2 ($5.8 million), now in its ninth box-office weekend, and new Jason Statham action movie “Shelter” ($5.5 million).
Critics eviscerated the documentary – on Rotten Tomatoes, “Melania” holds a dreadful 11% positive Tomatometer score. However, the website’s audience-powered Popcornmeter sits at a 99% approval rating and the movie also received an A in CinemaScore polling.
“We’re very encouraged by the strong start and positive audience response, with early box office for ‘Melania’ exceeding our expectation,” said Kevin Wilson, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of domestic theatrical distribution, in a statement.
Melania Trump is chic in black at movie’s Kennedy Center premiere
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“Melania” has had a glitzier rollout than most documentaries. Melania Trump hosted a private White House screening of the movie a week ago, and on Jan. 29, she appeared alongside many other guests at the film’s premiere at the Trump Kennedy Center in Washington. The VIP list included rapper Nicki Minaj; media figure Dr. Phil; and cabinet members Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Even though “Melania” bested box-office expectations, it has a ways to go before being profitable: Jeff Bezos’ Amazon MGM Studios bought the movie and a companion docuseries for $40 million and reportedly spent an additional $35 million in marketing. Both are expected to stream on Prime Video later this year, and Amazon will recoup some of its “Melania” costs through ads and streaming service sign-ups.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melania Trump documentary shocks with $7 million box office start