Film posters for the documentary “Melania” that includes U.S. first girl Melania Trump are displayed in a subway station in New York, Jan. 14, 2026.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Amazon’s “Melania” earned $7 million on the home field workplace throughout its debut this weekend, the very best opening for a non-music documentary in additional than a decade.
Documentaries aren’t sometimes main ticket gross sales drivers, with the vast majority of releases during the last 10 years opening beneath $5 million and grossing $10 million to $20 million worldwide, in keeping with information from Comscore. Documentaries and live performance movies by fashionable musical artists typically outperform these numbers due to their built-in fan bases.
Notably, Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” retains the document for the highest-opening political documentary with $23.9 million. The movie, which opened in 2004, additionally holds the document for the very best home haul for a political documentary with $119 million.
“We’re very inspired by the robust begin and optimistic viewers response, with early field workplace for ‘Melania’ exceeding our expectations,” stated Kevin Wilson, head of home theatrical distribution at Amazon MGM Studios. “This momentum is a vital first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for each the movie and the forthcoming docu-series, extending nicely past the theatrical window and into what we consider can be a big run for each on our service.”
The Melania Trump documentary was acquired by the tech large, which operates the streaming service Prime Video, for an estimated $40 million, and studies recommend the corporate spent almost the identical price ticket on advertising for the movie.
Ticket gross sales have been pushed by girls and moviegoers over 55, with each demographics accounting for 70% or extra of receipts. Moreover, rural theaters represented 46% of complete field workplace grosses, in keeping with EntTelligence information. Sometimes, these theaters, which function in areas with populations of fewer than 500,000 individuals, account for round 30% of film ticket gross sales.
EntTelligence estimates that 600,000 moviegoers noticed the movie over the weekend.
Whereas evaluate websites have been flooded with robust viewers critiques — Rotten Tomatoes’ “Popcornmeter” stands at 99% from greater than 500 customers — vital responses have been extra scathing. “Melania” holds an 11% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes from 19 critiques, with many critics calling the documentary “propaganda.”
Disclosure: Versant Media is the guardian firm of Rotten Tomatoes and CNBC.
