“Melania: Twenty Days to History” won over fans of the first lady at the box office this weekend, surpassing the initial opening weekend expectations to generate $7.04 million.
The Amazon MGM Studios film, which rolled out in over 1,500 theaters in North America, was estimated to make $5 million, which would have made it a relatively solid opening by documentary standards. But after beating expectations, it’s now the strongest start of a non-music documentary in over a decade, according to box office analysts.
It took the No. 3 overall spot for the weekend, following YouTuber Markiplier’s self-financed film “Iron Lung” and Sam Raimi’s “Send Help.”
While Amazon MGM Studios’ Head of Domestic Theatrical Distribution Kevin Wilson’s lauded the documentary’s “strong start,” it is still too early to call it a big win for Amazon.
The studio paid a whopping $40 million to acquire the project, which was helmed by filmmaker Bret Ratner. The studio also spent roughly $35 million on the marketing campaign, an eye-popping sum for a political documentary. Promotion for the film included projecting its trailer on the Las Vegas Sphere and designing a commemorative popcorn bucket.
The larger-than-expected haul comes despite reviewers on Letterboxd trashing the film (before seeing it), and others online sharing screenshots of theaters full of unsold tickets in cities. Critics have also largely panned the film, with outlets like The Hollywood Reporter calling it an “expensive propaganda doc” offering an “up-close and not-so-personal portrait” of the first lady.
Still, moviegoers gave the film, which was backed by the White House, a generous A CinemaScore and 99% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The top-performing markets for “Melania” included Dallas, Orlando, Tampa, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, and West Palm Beach, according to box office analysts who shared audience metrics with NBC News. President Donald Trump won Texas, Arizona and Florida in the 2024 presidential election. The documentary also mostly attracted female moviegoers, who made up about 70% of audiences.
An estimated 600,000 moviegoers saw the film over the weekend, according to EntTelligence data provided to CNBC.
In January of last year when Amazon licensed the film, the studio said it picked up the documentary, as well as a subsequent docuseries for the streaming service, “for one reason and one reason only—because we think customers are going to love it.” The deal occurred shortly after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dined with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
“This momentum is an important first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for both the film and the forthcoming docu-series, extending well beyond the theatrical window and into what we believe will be a significant run for both on our service,” Wilson said in a statement on Sunday.
Last weekend, an exclusive guest list attended an early screening of the film at a private White House before Amazon rolled out the black carpet for the documentary’s Washington, D.C., premiere at the Kennedy Center on Thursday.
When asked by NBC News about who the film was for, the first lady said, “Everybody will connect on a certain level. Teenagers can go to see, young women can go to see and be inspired that they could have a family and business, as well.”
The premiere was attended by friends of the Trump family, members of the Trump administration and those involved with the film, including Ratner and Marc Beckman, a senior adviser to the first lady and the husband of Melania Trump’s friend designer Alice Roi.
Ratner was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017, but has denied the allegations and was never charged. The director has become a fixture in Trump’s circle, and spent a significant amount of time living at Mar-a-Lago while shooting the film, according to a source close to the first lady.
In November, Semafor reported that a push from the president led Paramount Skydance to agree to distribute Ratner’s “Rush Hour 4.” The president’s involvement was not confirmed by NBC News.
In his Instagram stories over the weekend, Ratner re-shared a post from the X account End Wokeness which read “This is why nobody trusts ‘the critics.’” A screenshot of the RottenTomatoes scores was attached.
Daniel Arkin, Rebecca Keegan, Chloe Melas and Monica Alba contributed.
Eric Javits shares the story behind Melania Trump’s iconic inauguration hat and reacts to the “blocked kiss” and Donald Trump’s joke about her almost blowing away as she said farewell to the Bidens.
