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First Lady Melania TrumpA documentary titled Melania has exceeded its poor box office sales predictions during the opening weekend - surprising Hollywood.
The film generated $7 million from ticket sales. across the US and Canada, which makes it the top-grossing theatrical documentary release, excluding concert films, since 2012.
The movie's impressive showing took everyone by surpriseHollywood reviewers, who delivered harsh critiques. Early estimates for ticket sales ranged from $3 million to $5 million, according to the rate of ticket sales from the previous week.
'No one anticipated it,' the Hollywood Reporterstated, noting that many had dismissed the film, "due to empty, or almost empty, seat charts in cinemas throughout the nation."
Brain Stelter, the head media analyst atCNN, criticized Melania's performanceon X and wrote: 'Amazon MGM Studios is highlighting robust ticket sales, yet the film remains significantly below achieving profitability, which is the standard Hollywood measure of success.'
The Daily Beastalso released its own critique following the public's praise of the box office figures, stating that Amazon is 'in some way acknowledging it as a success, despite the film still being approximately $68 million in the red.'
Jeff Bock, a senior media analyst at Exhibitor Relations, was also taken aback by the impressive amount the documentary managed to generate.
He stated that any amount exceeding $1 million – which Melania surpassed seven times – is "a significant figure" suggesting "many people who typically don't attend movies did so for this."USA Today reported.
Although the film received poor reviews, it managed to score a surprising 10 percent from Rotten Tomatoes' professional critics,audience appeared to enjoy what they witnessed.
The Rotten Tomatoes' audience rating system, where anyone can provide a review of a film, has a 99 percent score for Melania. Audiences awarded it an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls and five stars on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak.
Overall, Melania achieved the third-best resultamong all stage performances throughout the weekend.
Send Assistance, a horror thriller launched on Friday, led the charts with approximately $20 million from ticket sales, while Iron Lung, a horror science fiction film that debuted on the same day, secured second position with an estimated $18 million in earnings.
Documentaries, aside from concert films, seldom generate significant box office revenue. The most recent one to surpass Melania in sales was the nature documentary Chimpanzee, which made $10.7 million in 2012, or approximately $15 million when adjusted for inflation.
Rural cinemas accounted for approximately 46 percent of local ticket revenue, a figure significantly greater than typical for a launch weekend, as reported by EntTelligence, a research company.
Republican-leaning areas accounted for 53% of ticket sales, with the movie achieving top results in states like Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
A significant 70 percent of Melania's ticket purchasers were women aged over 55, as reported by Amazon, the company that holds the film's distribution rights.
The business spent a staggering $40 million for those rights, plus another $35 million to promote the film.
The film was shown in 1,778 theaters across the country, with each theater retaining roughly half of the ticket sales. This indicates that Amazon has recouped approximately $3.5 million from its $75 million investment.
Melania is also showing in an extra 1,600 cinemas around the world. Amazon has not disclosed international ticket sales data, although box office experts noted the film had a weaker performance outside the United States.
Amazon can generate more revenue from the documentary on its streaming service, Prime Video, which is set to launch in three to four weeks. Nevertheless, it will need to make several tens of millions of dollars to cover the original costs.
Certain reviewers have suggested that the firm's exceptionally high offer for distribution rights, which exceeded the second-highest bid by $26 million, was an attempt to gain favor with the Trump family.
Amazon has mentioned that it acquired the rights "for one reason and only one — because we believe customers will really enjoy it." The company also expressed being "very encouraged" by the documentary's sales during its opening weekend.
Melania, directed by Brett Ratner of Rush Hour fame,traveled with the first lady for 20 days in January of the previous yearand concluded with the swearing-in of President Trump.
This was the first film directed by Ratner since 2017, when he faced accusations from six women regarding inappropriate behavior. Ratner has refuted these claims.
He was also featured in the Epstein documents.in a picture featuring Jean-Luc Brunnel, a former French modeling agent and long-time collaborator of Jeffrey Epstein.
The image of Ratner and Brunel had no date and did not indicate where it was captured or provide any additional information.
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