{"id":239874,"date":"2026-01-18T17:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/239874\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T17:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:15:10","slug":"trumps-awkward-verdict-on-melanias-new-movie-ahead-of-star-studded-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/239874\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s awkward verdict on Melania’s new movie ahead of star-studded premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump says he’s “seen pieces” of the documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, set to premiere this month at the Kennedy Center with reported $40M backing from Jeff Bezos’s Amazon MGM Studios\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump revealed he has “seen pieces” of an upcoming documentary about his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, which is scheduled to debut this month at the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

“It seems to be captivating a lot of people’s attention… Everybody wants tickets to the premiere,” Trump remarked aboard Air Force One on Sunday.<\/a> The film, which chronicles Melania Trump<\/a> during the period before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, has received backing from Amazon MGM Studios.<\/p>\n

Following his return to office, Trump removed the leadership of the renowned Washington, D. C., cultural institution, installing his own chosen board of trustees.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Trump administration issues rare apology for mistakenly deporting 19-year-old college student<\/a>READ MORE: Daughter of Donald Trump’s doctor makes a bombshell claim about his health<\/a><\/p>\n

In December, this new board voted to rebrand the facility as the Trump-Kennedy Center, reports the Irish Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, since officially changing the name would require Congressional action to modify a 1964 statute that prevents the board from dedicating the center to any other individual, the board’s moves have sparked a federal legal challenge.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump says he has already previewed parts of a new documentary centered on First Lady Melania Trump(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with Trump’s name now displayed prominently alongside John F. Kennedy’s on the building’s facade, numerous prominent performers and organizations have pulled out of scheduled appearances.<\/a><\/p>\n

As ticket revenues and visitor numbers have declined during Trump’s effort to reshape what he perceives as an arts institution that has long favored liberal audiences, questions remain about whether the first lady’s premiere will attract genuine cinema enthusiasts or those seeking to win favor with the current administration.<\/p>\n

The production company behind the documentary is said to be organizing a limited cinema release prior to making it available on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

Reports suggest Bezos will pay the Trump family approximately $40 million to secure rights to the film and an accompanying docuseries.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

A Melania Trump documentary heads to the Kennedy Center amid legal challenges over Trump\u2019s takeover(Image: Amazon)<\/p>\n

This marks another financial tie between the Amazon founder and the Trump administration. In December 2024, Bezos revealed plans to contribute $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, earning him a prominent seat alongside fellow tech billionaires at the inauguration ceremony.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has invested millions in lobbying efforts focused on surveillance contracts, tax reductions and anti-union measures, while continuing his first-term collaboration with Palantir and other surveillance firms to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement in monitoring immigrants through AWS-hosted systems.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer, Melania Trump explained the film chronicles her return to the White House and preparations for the couple’s four-year residence.<\/p>\n

“Well, the book was such a success, and I’m very proud, and I get so many messages and letters how they enjoy the book, and they would love – my fans and people – would love to hear more from me,” she said. “So, I had an idea to make a movie, to make a film, about my life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Trump says he’s “seen pieces” of the documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, set to premiere this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,3723,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-239874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-melania-trump","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}