Lake Oswego theater loses rights to screen ‘Melania’ after marquee jokes
Published 12:30 pm Monday, February 2, 2026
Lake Theater & Cafe announced that it will no longer show “Melania,” the Amazon Studios documentary about the first lady, after Amazon revoked the theater’s rights to the film.
“Got a call that the higher ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how our marquee marketed their movie (i.e., Melania), that, per them, Sunday would be its last day here,”the Lake Theater & Cafe said in a post on Instagram about the scheduling changes.
The loss of the theatrical rights is attributed to the Lake Theater’s marquee messages for the documentary.
These included: “DOES MELANIA WEAR PRADA? FIND OUT FRIDAY!” and “TO DEFEAT YOUR ENEMY. YOU MUST KNOW THEM. MELANIA.”
“Melania” is directed by Brett Ratner and follows the 20 days before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Amazon Studios purchased the rights to produce and distribute the film in 2025 for $40 million.
Even before the rights to “Melania” were revoked, the Lake Theater & Cafe had received emails from the community asking why the film was being shown at all, according to theater General Manager Jordan Perry’s blog post.
“Mostly, I thought doing so would be funny. For some of you, that’s enough. Great! Otherwise… Financially, the film marketplace this week and next were a desert… So, to fill a screen, why not get this inexplicable vanity piece from the current president’s wife? I mean, it just seems so weird that it even exists (who wants a movie about Melania lol?), and wouldn’t it then be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show it here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighborhood cinema?” Perry wrote.
Perry goes on to explain how showing Melania doesn’t financially benefit the president’s family as Amazon Studios is owned by Jeff Bezos.
“And, again, something about this all I find funny. Do I find the upset emails from you funny? No, most leave me sad; sorry to have dismayed, confused, or misdirected you, sorry to have not replied,” Perry said, later adding:“I do not view our film programming as political. I try to choose films for the community that they want to see. Lake Oswego is diverse, whatever best serves you collectively best serves us (also need people to buy more than tickets, please arrive hungry / thirsty).”
It is uncertain if the revocation of the rights to “Melania” will impact the theater’s ability to show future Amazon Studios films, such as “Project Hail Mary.”