Amazon is betting big on controversy. The company's $40 million documentary about First Lady Melania Trump pulled in $7.04 million during its opening weekend, more than doubling industry forecasts - but it's still nowhere near profitability. With another $35 million spent on marketing and brutal reviews (7% on Metacritic), the film is raising eyebrows less for its box office performance and more for what critics are calling Amazon's attempt to curry favor with the Trump administration.
Amazon just made one of the most expensive - and controversial - bets in documentary history. 'Melania,' the Brett Ratner-directed film about First Lady Melania Trump, earned $7.04 million during its opening weekend, landing in third place at the box office. It's a performance that exceeded pre-release estimates by more than 40%, but the real story isn't what happened at theaters this weekend. It's what happened in the bidding room months ago.
The streaming giant paid $40 million to acquire the documentary and dumped another $35 million into promotion, according to Variety. That $75 million total puts it firmly in the red, even with the better-than-expected opening. Industry insiders had predicted a modest $3 to $5 million debut, which made Amazon's massive financial commitment all the more puzzling.
But the math gets more interesting when you look at the competition. Amazon's bid came in $26 million ahead of the next highest offer from Disney. That kind of premium doesn't happen for box office potential alone - and critics aren't holding back about what they think is really going on.
'How can it not be equated with currying favor or an outright bribe?' veteran film executive Ted Hope told The New York Times. Hope worked at Amazon from 2015 to 2020 and knows how the company makes deals. He called it 'the most expensive documentary ever made that didn't involve music licensing.'
The film marks director Brett Ratner's return after a seven-year absence from Hollywood. His last project came in 2017, before . Ratner has denied the accusations, but the controversy followed him onto this production. that two-thirds of the film's New York crew requested their names be removed from the credits.
