The film’s rollout is huge — a worldwide marketing campaign that includes billboards, bus sides and national television commercials during N.F.L. playoff games — and cost an estimated $35 million. Its premiere will be simulcast in 25 theaters across the country, and 1,700 domestic theaters will show it this weekend.
The latest superhero movie?
Try Amazon’s all-hands-on-deck handling of “Melania,” which follows Melania Trump, the first lady, in the days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration. Ms. Trump produced the film, which was directed by Brett Ratner, who has not made a movie since 2017, when he was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. He has denied those accusations.
Amazon paid Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney. The fee includes a related docuseries that is scheduled to air later this year. The budget for “Melania” is unknown, but documentaries that follow a subject for a limited amount of time usually cost less than $5 million to produce. The $35 million for marketing is 10 times higher than some other high-profile documentaries have received.
All of which has a lot of Hollywood questioning whether Amazon’s push is anything more than the company trying to ingratiate itself with President Trump.
“This has to be the most expensive documentary ever made that didn’t involve music licensing,” said Ted Hope, who worked at Amazon from 2015 to 2020 and was instrumental in starting the company’s film division. “How can it not be equated with currying favor or an outright bribe? How can that not be the case?”
Thom Powers, the documentary programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival and host of the Pure Nonfiction podcast, called the deal “startling” because of Mr. Ratner’s involvement and because Amazon’s payment for the film had “no correlation to the marketplace.”
Some employees in Amazon’s entertainment division had similar concerns, according to three sources with knowledge of discussions inside Amazon. They were told the project was mandated by the company’s leadership and that employees could not opt out of working on the film for political reasons. Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, and Mike Hopkins, who runs Amazon Studios, attended a private screening of the film at the White House on Saturday.
Amazon, when asked for comment about its promotion of the movie, repeated a statement it had released in the past: “We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love it.”
Representatives for Ms. Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
To grasp just how uncustomary Amazon’s marketing push is for “Melania,” consider how Magnolia Pictures handled “RBG,” a portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her 25th year as a Supreme Court justice, in 2018.
CNN Films produced “RBG” for around $1 million. The promotional budget, including an awards campaign that helped it land two Oscar nominations, totaled about $3 million. The film debuted in 34 theaters and expanded into 432 locations over several weeks. It ultimately collected $14 million, enough to rank as the year’s No. 1 political documentary.
That is a customary — even robust — rollout for a documentary.
One of the directors of “RBG,” Julie Cohen, has also worked with Amazon on documentaries like “My Name Is Pauli Murray,” the story of a nonbinary Black lawyer, activist and poet whose work influenced Thurgood Marshall and others.
Because Ms. Trump had editorial control over “Melania,” Ms. Cohen said, the film has “no artistic or journalistic integrity.”
“I’ve loved working them with them in the past, but I wouldn’t want to work with them in the future,” Ms. Cohen said about Amazon. “I’m very concerned about the amount of money they paid for the film. That’s not normal spending for a documentary, so I think that would suggest that Amazon is buying something else for their money. That’s a big problem.”
Before “Melania,” Amazon was known in Hollywood for nonfiction films with a progressive bent, like “I Am Not Your Negro,” based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript; “Mayor Pete,” about Pete Buttigieg’s campaign for president; “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” about Stacey Abrams and her campaign to stop voter suppression; and “Time,” about the racial politics of incarceration.
In total, Amazon paid roughly $12 million for those four films.
“Melania” is expected to sell about $5 million in tickets from Friday through Sunday in the United States and Canada, based on advance ticket sales and surveys that track moviegoer interest. Ticket revenue is shared roughly 50-50 by theaters and distributors.
An opening weekend in that range would put “Melania” on a par with other documentaries aimed at conservative audiences but with much smaller production and marketing budgets. “Am I Racist?,” a takedown of the diversity and inclusion movement, collected $4.5 million on its opening weekend in 2024, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. (It took in $12.3 million by the end of its run.) “After Death,” about near-death experiences, arrived to $5.1 million in 2023 and took in $11.8 million in total.
Amazon, of course, can also monetize “Melania” on its Prime streaming service, where the film is expected to become available three to four weeks after it debuts in theaters.
On Friday, “Melania” will also be released in 1,600 theaters overseas, where FilmNation, a New York company, is handling distribution in more than 20 countries. International ticket sales are expected to be weak, according to box office analysts. Vue, a major European cinema operator, is offering nine showings (451 seats in all) at its multiplex in York, England, from Friday through Sunday, one analyst noted. As of Wednesday, it had sold six seats.
Vue’s chief executive, Tim Richards, told The Guardian newspaper on Monday that he had received a considerable number of emails from customers criticizing the company’s decision to show the film.
Nicole Sperling covers Hollywood and the streaming industry. She has been a reporter for more than two decades.
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