(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) First Lady Melania Trump’s documentary shattered box office expectations during its debut weekend, stunning Hollywood critics who had dismissed the Amazon-produced film as a flop.
The film pulled in $7 million domestically over the weekend, making Melania the highest-selling non-music documentary in more than a decade, according to media reports.
The documentary was filmed during the 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s swearing-in as the 47th president on Jan. 20, 2025. Amazon reportedly acquired the project for $40 million.
Melania is expected to finish third at the box office, trailing Iron Lung and Send Help.
“No one saw that coming,” The Hollywood Reporter noted, adding that many had prematurely declared the film a “bomb before it even opened based on empty, or nearly empty, seat maps in cinemas across the country.”
The film’s success was driven largely by audiences in the South and South-Central part of the country. Roughly 72 percent of viewers were women around age 55, while 78 percent of all ticket buyers were 55 and older.
The last documentary to see similar success was Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004, which debuted with $23.9 million. That film covered then-President George Bush.
Despite the strong debut, media critics predictably trashed Melania, with Rotten Tomatoes averaging a 10 percent in critic score. Actual viewers, however, gave the film a 99 percent approval rating.
