Despite exceeding low expectations, Melania Trump’s documentary has firmly been considered a flop after its UK box office takings were announced, revealing a grim financial truth
15:37, 04 Feb 2026Updated 15:57, 04 Feb 2026
Melania Trump’s documentary hasn’t taken much money in the UK box office(Image: Getty)
First Lady Melania Trump’s Amazon-funded documentary was released to considerable fanfare last month. Titled Melania: 20 Days to History, the film reportedly cost $75m (£54.6m) to make, and its creators hoped it would prove a box-office success.
In the UK, however, it has struggled. Opening-weekend figures show it took just £32,974 from 155 cinemas — around 0.06% of its production cost.
This equates to an average of £212.80 per screen for the Brett Ratner-directed film, which currently sits 29th in the UK box office chart.
The muted performance comes despite early interest generated by the documentary’s focus on Melania in the lead-up to Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
Melania Trump(Image: Getty)
Even in the US, the film has not performed as well as hoped, taking $2.9m (£2.1m) from 1,778 cinemas on its opening day and even being beaten by an independently financed horror film, Iron Lung.
Despite exceeding modest projections — with an expected $5m (£3.7m) opening weekend rising to around $7m (£5.1m) — the documentary is still widely viewed as a commercial disappointment.
Critics have largely panned the film, and audience turnout has remained limited. Nevertheless, both Melania and Donald Trump have publicly suggested otherwise. The BBC reported that the former described it as “loved by all”, while the latter, speaking from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, called it a “tremendous success”.
He added: “It’s the number one documentary in 19 years — can you believe this?”
While it was unclear which statistic Trump was referencing, The Guardian reported that the film achieved one of the strongest recent box-office openings for a documentary.
The disappointing figures come amid renewed scrutiny of the relationship between between Melania and Donald.
Melania attended the premiere alongside her husband, President Trump(Image: Variety via Getty Images)
Although public perceptions vary, one psychotherapist and confidence specialist has suggested many assumptions about the former First Lady may be misplaced.
Speaking to the Mirror US, Shelly Dar said Melania has become highly skilled at maintaining firm personal boundaries in the public eye.
She explained: “When we analyse Melania Trump, it can look like she’s sad or worried, but what we’re really seeing is her restraint. Her public presence is so controlled and so neutral and very deliberate. And as First Lady, that restraint tightens even more because of the pressure and the cost of mistakes is very high.
“Psychologically, her body language doesn’t communicate any emotions — it communicates boundaries. She doesn’t perform emotions for comfort, something that we’re used to in the Western world.”