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'Melania' box office collection: How did the documentary fare? Weekend sales forecast
Amazon MGM's Melania documentary defied low early expectations in box office with a stronger opening than projected.
The documentary Melania, directed by Brett Ratner and profiling U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, opened in theatres on Friday, January 30, with box office results that exceeded modest expectations.
Amazon MGM Studios reportedly paid $40 million to acquire the documentary and an additional $35 million in marketing.
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Opening weekend performance better than expected
Brett Ratner's documentary Melania, which follows the First Lady in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration, made $2.9 million from 1,778 theatres on its opening day on Friday, which exceeded box office projections.
The controversial documentary was predicted by analysts to earn between $1 million and $5 million during its first weekend of release.
Rather, according to Variety, it is now expected to make about $8.1 million in total by Sunday.
Internationally, sales have been described as “soft” with reports of sparse ticket purchases in markets like the UK, according to The Guardian.
The Guardian reported that at its flagship Islington location in London, only one ticket has been sold for the first screening on Friday. Some other screenings in the country sold another handful of tickets compared to nearly sold-out seats in "ultra-conservative hubs" such as Plano, Texas.
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A critical response to the movie
Even while the movie did better than anticipated at the box office, it is still unlikely to recover the money Amazon MGM invested in it.
Despite its hefty backing, industry analysts view the performance as underwhelming rather than triumphant. The Hollywood Reporter describes Melania's performance at the box office as an “enormous gamble for all involved.”
On Rotten Tomatoes, “Melania” receives an 11%. A reviewer on the platform wrote, “It is impossible not feel that the real purpose of this portrait is not insight, but rather distraction from the awfulness and corruption of her husband's regime.”
Melania is the first directorial break for Brett Ratner after he was canceled in 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct and assault in the MeToo movement.
