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Melania (film)

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Not to be confused with Melanie (film).

Melania
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrett Ratner
Produced by
StarringMelania Trump
Cinematography
Edited byAlex Márquez
Music byTony Neiman
Production
companies
Distributed byAmazon MGM Studios
Release date
  • January 30, 2026 (2026-01-30) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million
Box office$9.5 million[2][3]

Melania is a 2026 American documentary film that follows Melania Trump, the first lady of the United States, in the 20 days before her husband Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration. It is directed and produced by Brett Ratner.

Melania is Ratner's first film since sexual assault allegations were made against him in 2017. Development started shortly after the 2024 presidential election and the project received bids from Amazon, Disney, Netflix, and Paramount Pictures. Amazon's offer of $40 million, the highest price ever paid for a documentary, also included a theatrical release and a follow-up docuseries. Trump retained editorial control, heavily involving herself in the production.

Melania was released in the United States on January 30, 2026. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and has been called by some a pro-Trump propaganda film. It has grossed $9.5 million on a $40 million production budget.

Production

Development

The idea of a documentary about Melania Trump, the wife of Donald Trump, was either pitched by her to Jeff Bezos during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in 2024, or she pitched it to Marc Beckman, her senior adviser and manager, after the 2024 presidential election.[4] She signed on as an executive producer for a documentary about her days after the election.[5] Trump said her impetus was a warm reception to her 2024 memoir.[6] In January 2025, Amazon MGM Studios announced that Brett Ratner would direct a documentary about Trump. Fernando Sulichin was brought on as an executive producer.[7]

Financing

Amazon, Disney, Netflix, and Paramount Pictures bid for the streaming rights.[5][8] Disney offered around $14 million,[9] but lost to Amazon's bid of $40 million to license the film and produce a follow-up docuseries on her.[8][10] This was the highest price ever paid for a documentary.[5] Ted Hope, who launched Amazon's film division and led it until 2020, stated that it was probably the most expensive documentary without music licensing.[9] Trump said that she accepted Amazon's offer due to the inclusion of a theatrical release.[11]

Melania Trump earned $28 million from the film.[12] Hope questioned how the high price for the documentary could not be seen as a bribe.[9] Jimmy Kimmel criticized the production as a $75 million bribe. Don Fox, who was acting director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, stated that the documentary seemed like it was meant to curry favor.[13]

Filming

Melania is Ratner's first film since numerous women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017.[7][10] Ratner was the only person considered for the job.[6] Numerous criticisms were made of Ratner's conduct during filming.[14]

Filming began in December 2024,[10] and months of filming was done in Mar-a-Lago.[15] Trump held editorial control over the film and she was involved with the trailer, color correction, selection of music, the advertising campaign,[5][16] and designed the logo.[17] Cinematographers Barry Peterson, Jeff Cronenweth, and Dante Spinotti were part of the filming crew.[4] Spinotti agreed to do the cinematography due to his prior work with Ratner on Red Dragon (2002) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and his curiosity about the Trump administration.[18]

Some scenes involved up to 80 crew members[4] and there were 12 crews in Washington, D.C. during the inauguration.[18] Amazon employees were told they could not opt out of working on Melania "for political reasons".[9] Two-thirds of the New York production crew staff asked to be omitted from the credits.[19]

Soundtrack

An original score was composed by Tony Neiman, including the song "Melania's Waltz". Licensed music from Aretha Franklin, Boney M., The Crystals, Elvis Presley, Giorgio Moroder, James Brown, Jonny Greenwood, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Sylvie Vartan, Tears for Fears, and the Village People was used.[20][21]

Marketing

A trailer for Melania was released on December 17, 2025.[6] Ellen von Unwerth shot the poster photograph.[15] On January 28, Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange before she made brief remarks to promote the film.[6] Donald Trump advertised the film on Truth Social in anticipation of its release.[19][14]

The marketing budget was reported to be $35 million, far higher than marketing for many other big-budget documentaries, but the production has denied this figure.[15][22] RBG (2018), for example, had a marketing budget of $3 million.[9] From December 22, 2025 to January 23, 2026, Amazon spent $3.5 million on national linear TV ads. Over 461 million household impressions were estimated from network marketing, with the four highest reaching programs on Fox News. Promotions also included an event at the Sphere, in Las Vegas.[23][24]

Melania was advertised on billboards and bus stops across Los Angeles, but they were defaced by Indecline and others. The Los Angeles Metro re-routed buses with Melania ads to avoid vandalism.[25]

Release

Melania premiered at the Kennedy Center and other screenings for friends and supporters were held across 20 cities on January 29, 2026.[15] Amazon MGM Studios released it on January 30,[26] in 2,000 theatres domestically and 5,000 worldwide.[12] A theatrical release was required as part of Amazon MGM Studios' purchase of distribution rights.[5] Melania is expected to be available for streaming three to four weeks after its theatrical debut.[9]

FilmNation Entertainment will distribute Melania in over 20 countries. Filmfinity cancelled the South African release on January 28.[27] It will be released in over 100 cinemas in the United Kingdom.[28]

Prior to the premiere, a screening and dinner was held at the White House with 70 guests in attendance, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Tim Cook, Mike Hopkins, Andy Jassy, Lynn Martin, Tony Robbins, Lisa Su, Mike Tyson, and Eric Yuan. A makeshift theater was used as the usual screening room had been demolished by Donald Trump along with the rest of the East Wing the previous year. A military band played "Melania's Waltz" composed by Tony Neiman as guests were greeted.[15]

Melania was review bombed on Letterboxd prior to its release.[12] All of the reviews were removed, which Letterboxd attributed to correcting an incorrect release date pulled from another movie database.[29] Review bombing and reverse review bombing has been conducted on the audience scores for review sites.[30][31] Forbes reported that the film's IMDb user score fell to 1.1 out of 10 for around a day, making it the lowest rated film on the site, but it later rose to third-lowest with a 1.3 by February 2.[32]

Reception

Box office

As of February 1, 2026, Melania has grossed $7 million in the United States and Canada, and $78,002 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $7.1 million.[2][3]

In the United States and Canada, Melania was released alongside Send Help, Shelter, and Iron Lung, and was projected to gross around $5 million from 1,500 theaters.[33] The film made $2.9 million on its first day[34] and earned $7 million in its opening weekend, finishing third place. It had the highest opening for a non-concert documentary since the $10.7 million opening for Chimpanzee (2012).[35][36] Of its opening day audience, 49% identified as Republicans, while 2% identified as Democrats, and 74% were Caucasian, 11% Hispanic, 4% Black, 4% Asian, and 7% Native American or other. The audience was 72% female.[37]

In the days leading up to its release, the largest AMC Theatre in Boston reported that only one ticket was sold over three showtimes,[14] while theaters were nearly sold out in Plano, Texas.[23] A review of 1,398 showings on Fandango Media in 329 American theaters by Wired showed that only two screenings were sold out before the premiere.[38]

In its first weekend, the film ranked #29 in the UK box office chart, with revenues of £32,974, with some screenings sold out but most empty or nearly empty.[39] There was a sold-out screening in Trump's native Slovenia.[11] Among the 27 showings in eight theaters in Mexico City, 15 of those had not sold any tickets, with an estimated 2.9 moviegoers per showing.[40] Theater chain Hoyts pre-sold fewer than 50 tickets for opening day screenings in Australia[41] and it grossed AUD$32,399 from 33 theaters over its opening weekend, ranking 31st at the box office.[42]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 8% of 50 critics' reviews are positive.[43] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 5 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[44] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average five out of five, with 89% saying they would definitely recommend it.[37]

In Owen Gleiberman's review for Variety, he called Melania a "shameless infomercial" and compared it to 1960s propaganda in China.[45] Nick Hilton, writing for The Independent, compared Melania to The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Triumph of the Will (1935) and criticized the film as vapid and lacking information about Trump.[46] Joy Press wrote in her review for Vanity Fair that Ratner was an inferior propagandist to Leni Riefenstahl.[47] William Thomas, writing for Empire, called Melania scripted reality and political propaganda.[48]

Xan Brooks, writing for The Guardian, criticized the slow pace and listless nature and considered Melania a "gilded trash remake" of The Zone of Interest (2023).[49] The lack of content and action was criticized by Sophie Gilbert in The Atlantic.[50] Donald Clarke said the film "induced narcolepsy" in The Irish Times.[21] Kevin Fallon, writing for The Daily Beast, criticized the lack of drama, overdramatic direction, and odd music cues.[51]

Brian Truitt, writing for USA Today, criticized the emotional disconnect; he highlighted Trump's lack of personality, the fact that she never addresses the camera directly, and scenes in which she is unbothered while watching wildfires in California.[52] William Bibbiani, writing for TheWrap, was critical of the lack of humanity shown as Trump focuses on her dead mother while footage of Jimmy Carter's funeral plays.[53]

Frank Scheck noted in The Hollywood Reporter that the musical choices included songs about murder, rape, and war ("Gimme Shelter"); false sexual allegations ("Billie Jean"); sex ("Boléro"); power and ambition ("Everybody Wants to Rule the World"); and male domination ("It's a Man's Man's Man's World").[54] Lauren Collins of The New Yorker argued that the use of a performance of "Amazing Grace" by Aretha Franklin felt "vaguely trolling" due to its association with the civil rights movement and Barack Obama.[55]

Industry response

Documentary filmmaker Kyle Henry stated that Melania was not a documentary and instead campaign advertising and a bribe.[56] Julie Cohen, who co-directed RBG and My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021), criticized it as having "no artistic or journalistic integrity" due to Melania Trump's editorial control and questioned the price Amazon paid.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Melania (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. April 2, 2025. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  2. ^ a b "Melania". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
  3. ^ a b "Melania". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Svetkey, Benjamin (January 30, 2026). "Melania Trump and Brett Ratner Break Silence on Making Their Controversial $75 Million Doc". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e Agnew, Megan (January 24, 2026). "Sensitive Trump, Melania the boss… inside the first lady's second term". The Times. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  6. ^ a b c d Hartmann, Margaret (January 14, 2026). "Melania Trump's Mysterious Film: Trailer & What We Know". New York. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  7. ^ a b Weprin, Alex; Couch, Aaron (January 5, 2025). "Brett Ratner to Direct Melania Trump Documentary for Amazon". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Belloni, Matthew (January 7, 2025). "Melania Trump Documentary Scores Massive Amazon Payday". Puck. Archived from the original on January 8, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Sperling, Nicole; Barnes, Brooks (January 28, 2026). "Amazon's Promotion of 'Melania' Has Critics Questioning Its Motives". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 28, 2026.
  10. ^ a b c Baio, Ariana (January 7, 2025). "Amazon is paying $40 million to license new Melania documentary directed by disgraced Brett Ratner". The Independent. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  11. ^ a b Shoard, Catherine (January 30, 2026). "One adult for the 9.40am in Sittingbourne: a front row seat for Melania's ominous UK opening". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  12. ^ a b c West, James (January 26, 2026). "Letterboxd Users Are Pre-Swarming the "Melania" Doc with Amazingly Mean Reviews". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  13. ^ Swain, Marianka (January 29, 2026). "Melania's documentary may have become a nightmare – but Jeff Bezos still comes out a winner". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  14. ^ a b c Murray, Conor (January 27, 2026). "Trump Says The 'Melania' Movie Is 'Selling Out, Fast'—But Is It?". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 29, 2026.
  15. ^ a b c d e Franklin, McKinley (January 24, 2026). "White House Holding VIP 'Melania' Screening Ahead of Doc Premiere With Mike Tyson, Tim Cook, Andy Jassy and More (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  16. ^ Klein, Betsy (January 25, 2026). "Melania Trump's multimillion-dollar documentary project faces a key test this week". CNN. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  17. ^ Klein, Betsy (January 28, 2026). "Melania Trump rings the NYSE opening bell, placing her documentary promotion at the center of the business world". CNN. Archived from the original on January 29, 2026.
  18. ^ a b Chotiner, Isaac (February 1, 2026). "What a "Melania" Cinematographer Hoped to Accomplish". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026.
  19. ^ a b Ferguson, Malcolm (January 27, 2026). "Melania Documentary Flops as Crew Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Chaos". The New Republic. Archived from the original on January 28, 2026.
  20. ^ Robinson, KiMi; Ryan, Patrick (January 30, 2026). "'Melania' movie features Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Elvis songs". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  21. ^ a b Clarke, Donald (January 31, 2026). "Melania review: Shameless propaganda that could put you to sleep". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  22. ^ Belloni, Matthew (January 23, 2026). "Can 'Melania' Open?". Puck. Archived from the original on January 29, 2026.
  23. ^ a b McClintock, Pamela (January 27, 2026). "Weekend Preview: Rachel McAdams to Be First Lady of the Box Office Despite Melania Trump's Lavishly Backed Doc". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 28, 2026.
  24. ^ Fuster, Jeremy (January 28, 2026). "'Melania' Set for a $3 Million Opening Despite Amazon's $35 Million Marketing Push". TheWrap. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  25. ^ Batey, Eve (January 31, 2026). "Amazon's Melania Ad Strategy Backfires In LA". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  26. ^ Galuppo, Mia (December 22, 2025). "'Melania' Doc to Premiere at The Kennedy Center". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  27. ^ Eligon, John (January 28, 2026). "Melania Trump Documentary Pulled From South African Theaters". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 28, 2026.
  28. ^ Shoard, Catherine (January 26, 2026). "Melania documentary struggles in UK cinemas as Vue admits sales are 'soft'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026.
  29. ^ West, James (January 27, 2026). "Those Brutal "Melania" Documentary Reviews Have Vanished from Letterboxd". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on February 2, 2026.
  30. ^ O'Brien, Terrence (January 31, 2026). "Looks like Melania is getting reverse review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 2, 2026.
  31. ^ Blasey, Laura (January 31, 2026). "What we learned - and didn't - from the Melania documentary". BBC. Archived from the original on February 2, 2026.
  32. ^ Tassi, Paul (February 2, 2026). "'Melania' Is One Of The Five Worst-Reviewed Movies In IMDB History". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 2, 2026.
  33. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 28, 2026). "'Send Help' Could Best 'Avatar: Fire And Ash' At WW Weekend With $25M; 'Iron Lung' & 'Melania' Might Surprise – Box Office Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  34. ^ Perry, Kevin (January 31, 2026). "Melania box office results revealed as divisive documentary defies predictions". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026.
  35. ^ Barnes, Brooks (January 31, 2026). "'Melania' Arrives With Strong Box Office Showing for a Documentary". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026.
  36. ^ Batey, Eve (February 1, 2026). "Melania's Box Office Success Is Less Surprising Than You Think". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on February 2, 2026.
  37. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 31, 2026). "'Send Help' $17.5M+ Ahead Of 'Iron Lung'; 'Melania' 'A' CinemaScore & $8M+ Record Docu Debut In Decade; Charli xcx's 'The Moment' Sings – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  38. ^ Varner, Maddy (January 29, 2026). "We Found Two Theaters With Sold-Out Melania Opening Day Screenings". Wired. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  39. ^ Shoard, Catherine (February 2, 2026). "Melania debuts at No 29 at the UK box office". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help)
  40. ^ Gonzalez, Sara (January 31, 2026). "Salas vacías y pancartas grafiteadas: el desaire del público mexicano al documental de Melania Trump". El País. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  41. ^ Stuart, Riley (January 31, 2026). "To understand Melania Trump's movie we might need to follow the money". ABC News Australia. Archived from the original on February 3, 2026.
  42. ^ Cain, Sian (February 2, 2026). "Melania: Amazon's $106m documentary takes $982 per screen in Australian opening weekend". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 3, 2026.
  43. ^ "Melania". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
  44. ^ "Melania". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
  45. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (January 30, 2026). "'Melania' Review: Brett Ratner's First Lady Documentary Is a Cheeseball Infomercial of Staggering Inertia". Variety. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  46. ^ Hilton, Nick (January 30, 2026). "Melania review – First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda". The Independent. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  47. ^ Press, Joy (January 30, 2026). "Melania Movie Review: All the Money In the World Can't Make Good Propaganda". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026.
  48. ^ Thomas, William (January 30, 2026). "Melania Review". Empire. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026.
  49. ^ Brooks, Xan (January 30, 2026). "Melania review – Trump film is a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
  50. ^ Gilbert, Sophie (January 30, 2026). "The Melania Trump Documentary Is a Disgrace". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  51. ^ Fallon, Kevin (January 30, 2026). "Trust Me, 'Melania' Is an Unbelievable Abomination of Filmmaking". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  52. ^ Truitt, Brian (January 30, 2026). "Brett Ratner's 'Melania' movie has an emotional disconnect – Review". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  53. ^ Bibbiani, William (January 30, 2026). "'Melania' Review: A Tedious, Criminally Shallow Propaganda Puff Piece". TheWrap. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026.
  54. ^ Scheck, Frank (January 30, 2026). "'Melania' Review: Brett Ratner's Melania Trump Documentary Is an Unabashed, Fly-on-the-Gilded-Wall Fawn Job". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026.
  55. ^ Collins, Lauren (February 2, 2026). ""Melania" Is a Forty-Million-Dollar Journey Into the Void". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
  56. ^ Thompson, Erica (January 31, 2026). "Chicago draws small but complimentary audience for critically panned 'Melania'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026.
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