{"id":259659,"date":"2026-01-30T17:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/259659\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:29:07","slug":"one-adult-for-the-9-40am-in-sittingbourne-a-front-row-seat-for-melanias-ominous-uk-opening-melania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/259659\/","title":{"rendered":"One adult for the 9.40am in Sittingbourne: a front row seat for Melania\u2019s ominous UK opening | Melania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday night in Washington saw the world premiere of Melania, Brett Ratner\u2019s $40m film about the first lady and one of the most expensive documentaries ever made. At the lately renamed Donald J Trump and John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts<\/a>, guests including House speaker Mike Johnson and health secretary Robert F Kennedy waved to reporters from the black carpet (which was paying homage to the first lady\u2019s favourite colour) before making their way up steps emblazoned with her name in glowing monochrome block capitals. Once the film began, unreeling its profile of Melania Trump over the 20 days leading up to her husband\u2019s January 2025 inauguration, press were barred.<\/p>\n

Everyone was welcome to attend the UK\u2019s first screening on Friday morning, yet all tickets to the 9.40am screening at Sittingbourne\u2019s Light cinema\u2019s 34-seater screen three remained unsold \u2013 until I bought one. Ten minutes before it began, doors to the multiplex were still locked and only gulls were patrolling the puddles outside the entrance. Screenings this early were unusual, an usher confirmed, \u201cusually it\u2019s just kids films\u201d.<\/p>\n

Twelve showings of Melania<\/a> \u2013 which does in fact have a PG rating in the UK \u2013 are scheduled over its week-long Sittingbourne run, for which a total of six seats have so far been sold. By contrast, 59 seats have already been snapped up for the first-day screenings of Wuthering Heights in a fortnight, and 33 for Being Victoria Wood next Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The 1pm Melania screening at the Bristol Showcase cinema. Photograph: Xan Brooks<\/p>\n

This picture is mimicked across the 100 or so cinemas in the UK in which Melania is being released, as well as in most of the 1,500 cinemas in the US screening the film, and the some 3,000 other cinemas around the world.<\/p>\n

In Romford, east London, the crowds outside the local Vue cinema were huge ahead of the film\u2019s 12:45pm showing but, sadly for the first lady, most people were nipping to the nearby Sainsbury\u2019s. Four seats were booked for the afternoon viewing but, in the end, only two people showed up. Among them was Amanda, who went to see the film to \u201cget an insight\u201d into Melania\u2019s life. She is far from a fan of Donald Trump though, calling him \u201cabsolutely crazy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t understand what she sees in the man, I don\u2019t know what she gets out of the relationship. Hopefully this might give me a bit more of an insight,\u201d said the 56-year-old, who works in retail. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll walk out having learned a little bit more than when I walked in,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In Islington, the north London enclave known for its strong leftwing credentials, the 3:10pm showing at the local Vue was \u2013 shockingly \u2013 sold out. Not only that, but the screen was switched to a larger one with more seats. The first lady shouldn\u2019t get her hopes up however. It appears the mid-afternoon showing was overflowing because the earlier lunchtime slot was scrapped at the last minute. The reason? The film, according to staff at the cinema, wasn\u2019t delivered on time. So, were a gaggle of Melania fans left disappointed by the delayed screening? No. It was notepad wielding journalists who chose the centrally located branch as their viewing venue of choice who were forced to wait around.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Thursday night, Melania said that it was Amazon\u2019s commitment to a wide theatrical rollout for the film that convinced her to choose them over the likes of Disney and Paramount, which also bid for the rights. \u201cAmazon was the best because they agreed to do theatres all around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ratner, who has not made a movie since 2014\u2019s Hercules after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against him in 2017<\/a> (which he denies and with which he has not been charged), was also eager to champion the streamer\u2019s commitment to cinemas. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s already a success,\u201d he said, \u201cjust the fact that Amazon has agreed to distribute this theatrically<\/a>. It\u2019s a different world today. When I was a kid, all I cared about was box office. \u2018How much money is this movie going to make?\u2019 And now it\u2019s like I\u2019ve already succeeded. I\u2019ve grown up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film is tracking to make between $3-5m in the US over its opening weekend, but ticket sales in the 25 other territories where it will be seen this weekend are much softer. The exception is Melania\u2019s native Slovenia, where almost all seats for Friday evening\u2019s screening <\/a>in the capital of Ljubljana are sold out.<\/p>\n

In the black \u2026 Donald and Melania Trump at the premiere of Melania at the Trump-Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Photograph: Kylie Cooper\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Films generally require around two-and-a-half times their production budget in global theatrical revenue to break even. This means Melania needs to make $100m to recoup costs. For comparison, that number has recently been achieved by Marty Supreme, the Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet film up for nine Oscars, and which has become A24\u2019s highest-grossing film ever. Other hits currently in cinemas \u2013 such as Hamnet and 28 Years Later: Bone Temple \u2013 are both on around $42m.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything about the numbers reported for Melania is surreal and certainly unprecedented,\u201d says Steven Gaydos, a veteran entertainment journalist and former vice president and executive editor of Variety. \u201cA documentary based upon a subject of such little popular interest expending such astounding sums and going into theatres where it will vaporise instantly like spit on a griddle. Its cost is so out of proportion to the audience for this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s wide rollout (documentaries in the UK cap their release at about 25 locations), as well as dauntingly early or late start times have given rise to suspicions in the industry that distributors Amazon may be paying cinemas to play the film. Amazon did not reply to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Lonely at the top \u2026 a still from Melania. Photograph: Amazon MGM Studios<\/p>\n

This is an uncommon practice known as four-walling, by which the distributor rents the \u201cfour walls\u201d of the screen from the owner for a flat fee and keeps all box office coffers, while the cinema gets to keep all popcorn profits. Four-walling is usually the preserve of titles deemed too niche for distributors to risk acquiring, such as documentaries based on home videos, conspiracy theory films and pornography. In 1972, Deep Throat became the only film to leverage the tactic successfully, when it was exclusively \u2013 and lucratively \u2013 released into privately-rented cinemas.<\/p>\n

Were this the case in Sittingbourne, Amazon would be paying about \u00a34,080 over the week and recouping just over \u00a3100 (all tickets are \u00a33 this Saturday). Representatives for the Light \u2013 a chain of 14 premises with an emphasis on community programming and inclusive events \u2013 as well Odeon and Vue have not replied to requests for comment. Amazon previously declared: \u201cWe licensed the film for one reason and one reason only \u2013 because we think customers are going to love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, an unverified Craiglist ad <\/a>offered free tickets to the film this weekend in Boston, plus $50 expenses to those who agree to stay until the final credits. Were this a genuine offer being made by Amazon, and the four-walling strategy verified, it would mean the company is forking out four times for Melania: first for the movie rights, then to ensure cinemas show it, then to make people watch it \u2013 and for the tickets themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese empty theatres and catastrophic box office numbers are going to be a huge embarrassment that must be anticipated,\u201d said Gaydos. \u201cI guess no one involved cares, because it\u2019s impossible for anyone to be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

While low box office takings outside the US are widely predicted, the scope of the rollout also means that screen average takings are likely to be exposingly low.<\/p>\n

Say cheese \u2026 Brett Ratner (left) and producer Marc Beckman arrive for the premiere of Melania. Photograph: Kylie Cooper\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the president wrote on Truth Social that the film was a \u201cmust see\u201d and tickets were \u201cselling fast\u201d. Speaking on the black carpet, the first lady \u2013 who reportedly paid herself $28m for her involvement, and oversaw much of the film\u2019s promotional push personally \u2013 explained the film\u2019s universal appeal. \u201cEverybody will connect on a certain level,\u201d she said. \u201cTeenagers can go to see it, young women can go to see, and be inspired that they could have a family and business, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the film\u2019s release in South Africa was abruptly cancelled, with a spokesperson for the local distributor citing \u201crecent developments\u201d and \u201cthe current climate\u201d. Trump is a largely unpopular figure in the country at present after his comments about a \u201cwhite genocide\u201d being waged against the Afrikaner population.<\/p>\n

In the US, where most of the film\u2019s $35m promotional budget was spent, posters and billboards have been defaced<\/a>. Meanwhile, Ratner\u2019s Instagram posts about the film have been flooded with comments comparing him to Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl and passing comment on his his appearance in a photo in the Epstein files. Reads one: \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to determine which is the most spineless, shameless, vapid, obtuse, worthless, unrepentant, cretinous [cuss word], Melania or you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Trump-Kennedy Center on Thursday evening, the director addressed reports that crew members, including at least half of those who worked on the New York sections of the film had requested their names be removed from the credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand if a liberal is working on the movie and they don\u2019t want to be credited but they want to feed their family,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t blame anyone for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Rolling Stone<\/a> report cites anonymous sources condemning Ratner\u2019s on-set behaviour, including performative eating while crew members were not provided with food for long days, as well as leaving crew stranded late at night in the wrong state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was more talk about Brett being slimy than there was about Melania,\u201d said one, while another agreed that the first lady \u201cwas totally nice. She was the opposite of Brett Ratner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratner, who divides his time between Israel and a villa on Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate, is now working on the completion of a spin-off mini series about the first lady, before he turns his attention to the fourth instalment of his moribund Rush Hour action series, which was greenlit by Paramount last year after the president expressed a desire<\/a> for the franchise to be resurrected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday night in Washington saw the world premiere of Melania, Brett Ratner\u2019s $40m film about the first lady…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-259659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259659","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=259659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}