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The documentary Melania, which features First Lady Melania Trump, is sliding down the box office charts.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film first ranked at number three in the box office charts, and three weeks after its release, it had dropped down to number 15 in the rankings.
Why It Matters
Melania has been the subject of intense attention and criticism. At first, this was over director Brett Ratner’s involvement, after he was ostracized in Hollywood following allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct by six women in 2017.
The second wave of criticism came over the price of the project, after it was revealed Amazon had paid $40 million for the 104-minute documentary, and paid a further $35 million for marketing. This criticism further intensified following widespread layoffs at The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
There has also been significant interest in how the film has performed. The documentary debuted with $7 million in ticket sales in its first weekend, and $2.9 million on its first day. This came after viral discourse about ticket sales, with a WIRED analysis finding only two sold-out theaters in the United States: one in Florida and one in Missouri.
What To Know
Melania opened at number three in the box office charts, then dropped to number ten in its second week and has now dropped down to number 15.
This performance is relatively normal for the documentary genre.
Melania had the strongest recorded start of any documentary in more than a decade but sits below popular documentary titles.
There are a handful of documentaries which sustained multi-week runs in the top ten. For example, the 2004 American political documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 opened at #1 with a debut of $23.9 million. It then dropped to number 2, number 4 and number 6 in the weeks that followed.
Other high performing events are music-driven, like Taylor Swift’s concert film, Taylor Swift: The Era’s Tour. That opened at Number One, with a domestic opening of $93.2 million, and stayed in the top spot for two consecutive weeks.
The highest grossing documentary film of all time is Michael Jackson’s This Is It. That earned $200 million against a budget of $155 million.
The 2020 documentary Becoming, about the former First Lady Michelle Obama, was released on Netflix and, as such, did not have a theatrical debut. However, it did receive a positive critical reception, earning four Emmy nominations.
Melania received a largely negative reception from Critics. It has an 11 percent Tomatometer score on the Rotten Tomatoes movie review site.
It has however outranked some high-profile titles such as the Charli XCX mockumentary, The Moment.
What People Are Saying
First Lady Melania Trump, in a post on X on January 25, viewed 3.5 million times: “MELANIA, the film A Historic Moment I am deeply humbled to have been surrounded by an inspiring room of friends, family, and cultural iconoclasts at the White House last night. Each of these individuals each brought their unique vision to the world, making a lasting impression. Our personal stories endure time and serve as a reminder of our mutual obligation to one another. It was an honor to present my new film, MELANIA, ahead of its global launch.”
What Happens Next?
The film will likely continue to drop down the box office charts as we move further away from when it was released.
