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'Melania' Debuts With $7 Million, Top-Three Finish as Reviews and Audiences Diverge

The $75 million outlay for Brett Ratner’s film tests Amazon’s strategy, with theatrical interest concentrated in conservative markets.

Overview

  • Amazon MGM estimates put the U.S. opening weekend at about $7 million from 1,778 theaters, placing the documentary third at the domestic box office.
  • Professional critic scores remain very low—around 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and low on Metacritic—after the film skipped wide advance screenings for reviewers.
  • Verified audience measures are highly positive, including an A CinemaScore, five-star PostTrak results, and a roughly 99% Rotten Tomatoes audience rating.
  • Amazon reportedly paid about $40 million for rights and around $35 million for marketing, an unusually large spend that analysts say is aimed beyond theatrical profits toward visibility and downstream value.
  • Turnout skewed older and toward Republican-leaning regions such as Florida and Texas, the U.K. launch underperformed, and the rollout featured a White House screening and a Kennedy Center premiere attended by political figures.