The motives behind Amazon’s promotion of “Melania” are being questioned by critics.
The tech giant is spending $35 million to promote its film about the first lady, far more than is typical for documentaries.
A $35 million marketing campaign that includes television commercials during N.F.L. playoff games and a premiere simulcast in 25 US theaters is a significant part of the film’s distribution. The movie opens in 3,300 theaters worldwide on Friday. The most recent superhero film? 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. The movie was made by Trump and was directed by Brett Ratner, who hasn’t worked on a movie since 2017, when a number of women said he had abused them.
He has refuted those claims. Amazon paid Ms. The rights to “Melania” were purchased by Trump’s production company for $40 million, approximately $26 million more than Disney, the next closest bidder. The fee includes a related docuseries that is scheduled to air later this year. Although the budget for “Melania” is unknown, short-form documentaries typically cost less than $5 million to make. The $35 million spent on marketing is ten times greater than the sums received by other well-known documentaries.
Because of all of this, a lot of people in Hollywood are wondering if Amazon’s push is anything more than an attempt by the company to curry favor 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? Why would that be the case?
The deal was described as “startling” by Thom Powers, host of the “Pure Nonfiction” podcast and documentary programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival. because Amazon’s payment for the movie had “no correlation to the market” and because Ratner was involved. Some employees in Amazon’s entertainment division had similar concerns, according to three sources with knowledge of discussions inside Amazon.
They were told that the project was mandated by the company’s leadership and that employees could not opt out of working on the film for political reasons. Saturday’s private screening of the movie at the White House was attended by Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, and Mike Hopkins, CEO of Amazon Studios. 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 for “Melania” is, 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 ended up making $14 million, which was enough to make it the best political documentary of the year. 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 with them in the past, but I wouldn’t want to work with them in the future,” Ms. Cohen mentioned Amazon. I’m very worried about how much money they spent on the movie. 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.
These four films were purchased by Amazon for roughly $12 million in total. “Melania” is expected to sell about $5 million in tickets from Friday through Sunday at 1,700 theaters 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.
“Melania” would be comparable to other conservative-themed documentaries with much smaller production and marketing budgets with opening weekends in that range. “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. (By the end of its run, it had earned $12.3 million.) “After Death,” about near-death experiences, arrived to $5.1 million in 2023 and took in $11.8 million in total.
Naturally, “Melania” can also be monetized by Amazon on its Prime streaming service, where it will be available three to four weeks after opening in theaters. FilmNation, a New York-based company, is in charge of distribution in more than 20 countries for “Melania,” which will also be shown in 1,600 theaters overseas on Friday. International ticket sales are expected to be weak, according to box office analysts. One analyst noted that Vue, a major European movie theater operator, is hosting nine screenings (with 451 seats total) at its multiplex in York, England, from Friday through Sunday. 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.
