This puts the project on pace to gross $15.4 million in total, nowhere near the $40 million that Jeff Bezos\u2019 Amazon spent to acquire it and an additional $35 million to promote it. The documentary was directed by Brett Ratner, who has faced heat for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> and allegations of sexual misconduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last week, as Melania logged an even higher 67-percent drop-off at the box office, Amazon MGM distribution chief Kevin Wilson<\/a> insisted that the documentary\u2019s \u201cstrong theatrical performance\u201d was \u201ca critical first moment that validates our holistic distribution strategy, building awareness, engagement, and provides momentum ahead of the film\u2019s eventual debut on Prime Video.\u201d<\/p>\n Amazon MGM has maintained that Melania will muster strong numbers on streaming to make up for its poor box office showing. The studio said it plans \u201cto recoup some of the cost of the film when it streams on Prime Video through advertising and Prime signups,\u201d though it has not yet announced a streaming release date.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether, theatrical and streaming represent two distinct value-creating moments that amplify the film\u2019s overall impact,\u201d Wilson said, adding that exit polls have shown interest in replaying the documentary on Amazon\u2019s Prime Video as well as tuning in to the docuseries.<\/p>\n During her black carpet premiere at the Kennedy Center last month, the 55-year-old first lady teased that a docuseries<\/a> would soon build on her vanity project.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still producing it, and that will be completely new footage,\u201d she told reporters at the time. \u201cWe have some scenes that are not in the movie. We will have in a few months a docuseries, so people will see much more documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n As Variety<\/a> pointed out, Amazon has deep enough pockets to afford massive losses on its Melania bet\u2014so its goal wasn\u2019t to make money.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether or not people like it, the value of these movies is different for our business model. We\u2019re getting a massive marketing campaign that\u2019s being paid for before the film gets to streaming,\u201d Wilson told the outlet in 2024<\/a>. \u201cIf we can put these movies out theatrically and cover our P&A (print and advertising) costs, why wouldn\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moviegoers are running out of love for Melania. The first lady\u2019s eponymous documentary continued to plummet on only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1457,146,85,46,20401,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-294295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-amazon","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-melania-trump","13":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/C6DHTLXD4VFILCHCNWONCCROUI.jpg\")
The film premiered at the now MAGA-fied Kennedy Center on Jan. 29. Taylor Hill\/WireImage via Getty Images <\/p>\n