Melania film beats box office predictions despite criticisms
The new Melania Trump documentary beat box office predictions to earn more than $7m (£5.1m) at US cinemas in its opening weekend.
The film follows the US First Lady, and reportedly became the most expensive documentary ever when Amazon spent $40m (£29m) on the rights and a further $35m (£25.5m) on marketing.
It was expected to generate in the region of $5m (£3.7m) in its first weekend, but its actual takings are "a huge start for a documentary", Variety said, and "no one saw that coming", according to the Hollywood Reporter.
But it will need to earn much more to break even, with some suggesting Amazon's deal has more to do with politics than immediate financial considerations.
The film about the First Lady on the internet’s main movie platform, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), has received a rating of 1 out of 10 — the lowest possible score. It remains unclear whether this was a politically motivated reaction or a genuine assessment by film audiences.
VIDEO-TRAILER:
Melania: 20 Days to History promises viewers an intimate glimpse into the First Lady's life in the days leading up to her husband's January 2025 inauguration. Melania herself is among the film's producers.
It achieved the biggest opening weekend takings for a non-fiction feature in the last decade, according to Deadline.
Melania claimed the film has been "loved by all", citing the A CinemaScore rating it had received in a survey of those who had gone to see it.
It also has an overwhelmingly positive 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes - but there is a big gulf between that and its 10% score from film critics.
Variety's Owen Gleiberman said the documentary was "so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial", while Empire's reviewer William Thomas called it "an obsequious, ring-kissing portrait of the current US administration, dressed in gauche, glossy reality-TV clothing".
The London Evening Standard's three-star review from Melanie McDonagh was something of an outlier, acknowledging the "scathing" reviews" but adding that "those who accept what it's about - Melania, curated by Melania (this may be mostly political nerds), it's rather fascinating."
VIDEO-TRAILER: Melania: 20 Days to History promises viewers an intimate glimpse into the First Lady's life in the days leading up to her husband's January 2025 inauguration. Melania herself is among the film's producers. It achieved the biggest opening weekend takings for a non-fiction feature in the last decade, according to Deadline. Melania claimed the film has been "loved by all", citing the A CinemaScore rating it had received in a survey of those who had gone to see it. It also has an overwhelmingly positive 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes - but there is a big gulf between that and its 10% score from film critics. Variety's Owen Gleiberman said the documentary was "so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial", while Empire's reviewer William Thomas called it "an obsequious, ring-kissing portrait of the current US administration, dressed in gauche, glossy reality-TV clothing". The London Evening Standard's three-star review from Melanie McDonagh was something of an outlier, acknowledging the "scathing" reviews" but adding that "those who accept what it's about - Melania, curated by Melania (this may be mostly political nerds), it's rather fascinating."
