First Lady Melania Trump’s documentary, aptly titled “Melania,” has defied initial box office expectations during its opening weekend, much to the astonishment of the Hollywood community.

The film garnered $7 million in ticket sales across the United States and Canada, marking it as the top-grossing documentary release, excluding concert films, since 2012.

This unexpected success took Hollywood critics by surprise, given their unfavorable reviews. Early forecasts had anticipated ticket sales ranging from $3 million to $5 million, based on last week’s pre-sale momentum.

“No one saw that coming,” reported the Hollywood Reporter, noting that many had underestimated the film due to the sparse audiences reflected in cinema seat maps nationwide.

Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst, took to social media platform X to critique the film’s performance. He commented, “Amazon MGM Studios is promoting strong ticket sales, but the film still falls significantly short of profitability, a common Hollywood benchmark for success.”

Trumped seven times over

Similarly, The Daily Beast expressed skepticism, pointing out that despite the buzz around the box office figures, Amazon is “somehow celebrating as a success, even though the movie is still nearly $68 million in the red.”

Jeff Bock, senior media analyst for Exhibitor Relations, also exhibited shock at the sheer number that the documentary was able to rake in.

He said that anything over $1 million – which Melania trumped seven times over – is ‘a huge number’ that indicates ‘a lot of folks who don’t normally go to the movies went to this,’ USA Today reported. 

Despite the negative reviews, with the film scoring a 10 percent from Rotten Tomatoes’ professional critics, viewers seemed to love what they saw. 

Rotten Tomatoes’ viewer rating system, which allows anyone to review a movie, is at 99 percent for Melania. 

Viewers gave it an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls and five stars on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak.

Breaking down the $7 million ‘Melania’ opening 

Overall, Melania had the third-highest performance of all theatrical releases over the weekend. 

Send Help, a thriller released Friday, topped the charts with about $20million in ticket sales, and Iron Lung, a sci-fi flick which premiered on the same day, earned second place with an estimated $18million in sales. 

Documentaries other than concert films rarely pull in big numbers at the box office. The last one to earn more sales than Melania was the nature film Chimpanzee, which earned $10.7million in 2012, or about $15million after adjusting for inflation. 

Theaters in rural areas contributed about 46 percent of domestic ticket sales, which is much higher than usual for an opening weekend, according to EntTelligence, a research firm.

Republican counties made up 53 percent of ticket sales, and the film performed best in red states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona. 

An overwhelming 70 percent of Melania ticket-buyers were women over the age of 55, according to Amazon, which owns the film’s distribution rights. 

The company paid an eye-watering $40million for those rights, as well as an additional $35million to market the movie. 

The movie was released in 1,778 domestic theatres, which keep about half of the ticket revenue. That means Amazon has so far earned about $3.5million back from its $75million investment. 

Controversial director makes comeback with ‘Melania’ 

Melania is also being screened in an additional 1,600 theatres internationally. 

Amazon has not released overseas ticket sale figures, but box office analysts said the film performed worse outside of America.

Amazon will be able to further monetize the documentary on its streaming platform, Prime Video, where it is expected to become available in three to four weeks. 

Even so, it will have to earn many tens of millions of dollars to recoup the initial investment. 

Some critics have said the company’s remarkably high bid for distribution rights, which was $26million more than the next highest offer, was a means to please the Trump family. 

Amazon has stated that it purchased the rights ‘for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love it.’ 

The company also said it was ‘very encouraged’ by the documentary’s opening weekend sales. 

Melania, which was directed by Rush Hour’s Brett Ratner, followed the first lady for 20 days in January of last year and culminated with President Trump’s inauguration. 

It was the first movie directed by Ratner since 2017, when he was accused by six women of inappropriate misconduct. Ratner has denied the allegations. 

He also appeared in the Epstein files in a photograph with Jean-Luc Brunnel, a now-deceased French modeling agent and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein. 

The photo of Ratner and Brunel was undated and lacked a location where it was taken or any further context. 

Share your thoughts with us in the comments 

Keith Olbermann sparks backlash taking a dig at Melania Trump’s English 

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann sparked backlash after taking a swipe at Melania Trump’s English proficiency as her new documentary debuted. 

’30 years in this country and still virtually – and, here, hilariously – unintelligible,’ Olbermann wrote on X Wednesday. 

He was responding to the First Lady’s appearance on Fox News, where she lauded her husband US President Donald Trump as a ‘unifier.’ 

‘I think he is unifier,’ Melania said. ‘He is unifier, not just here in United States but around the world.’

She added: ‘He stopped many wars. As well here in United States, it’s a lot of opposition – and that’s the problem, right?’ 

Melania acknowledged that people did not agree with ‘everything’ Trump does, but also called for the US to come together.

‘They just need to come on the same page and see that he wants to make America only safer and better,’ Melania told Fox News. 

Her remarks prompted the mean-spirited jab from Olbermann, as he took aim at her native Slovenian accent. 

The former ESPN analyst was lambasted for his take on social media, with online commenters turning Olbermann’s dig around on him. 

‘English is her second language and she still makes more sense than you,’ one user on X said. 

Another added: ‘You’re really making fun of an immigrant for having an accent?’ 

The user accused Olbermann of being a hypocrite and said he offered an ‘interesting take for a man frequently accusing the right of [racism].’ 

Carry on reading Keith’s dig here: 

The obvious absence at Melania Trump’s movie premiere 

Melania Trump proudly addressed the audience at her movie premiere on Thursday night, claiming she was offering a rare insight into the presidency. 

‘Some have called this a documentary. It is not,’ the First Lady said on stage at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center. 

‘It is a creative experience that offers perspectives, insights and moments that only few perceive.’ 

The documentary, titled Melania: Twenty Days to History, chronicles the dramatic lead up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration, following the First Lady from Mar-a-Lago to Manhattan. 

Melania donned a Dolce and Gabbana buttoned dress and black stilettos as she was joined by Trump and a host of showbiz and political stars including Dr. Phil, Nicki Minaj and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

The President told reporters on the red carpet: ‘This is like the good old days when the Academy Awards used to get ratings.’ 

But there was a notable absence. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was slated to attend, did not appear on the red carpet as she faces intense pressure to resign after the fatal shooting of a protester by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. 

Trump showered praise on Noem’s rival Tom Homan, newly installed to lead the immigration crackdown in Minnesota. 

‘I think he’s terrific,’ Trump said, adding: ‘But we have to get rid of the criminals.’ Melania, asked about her inspiration for the film, told reporters: ‘Well it was my life.’ 

‘You will see humor, you will see grief, you will see fashion so I’m very proud of the film,’ the 55-year-old told reporters. 

Trump mocked his predecessor’s Netflix contract when a reporter questioned him about Amazon’s $40 million deal for the movie rights: ‘Ask President Obama who got paid a lot of money and hasn’t done anything. Melania really produced.’ 

Carry on reading about the notable absence here: