Ever since its release on January 30, Melania, the documentary on First Lady Melania Trump, has been at the center of a number of controversies. After receiving lukewarm reviews from critics, it appears that the film has now fallen off the charts, in what is being considered as a huge blow to the high-budget documentary.
Melania had a decent run at the box office during its initial phase, collecting around $7 million during its first week. That success, however, did not last long, as the documentary was missing from the top charts just weeks after its release.
Going by recent trends, it seems that the documentary, which chronicles Melania’s days before she became the first lady for the second time, has vanished from the box office. Even though Melania is still being played in some theaters, it is currently not even among the top 38 documentaries in the United States.
#MelaniaTrump has partnered with Brett Ratner and Amazon to produce a documentary about her life. The film will offer “an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
It is scheduled for release in mid-2025, will have a theatrical and streaming release 🥰 pic.twitter.com/mMWcNmcMnL
— ONLY MELANIA (@OnlyMelaniaTR) January 5, 2025
For some context about films that have tanked at the box office recently, an independent film, Obex, earned only $1,054 between February 27 and March 1. Obex‘s low earnings have put it at the bottom of the box office list during that period.
The movies that grossed the highest during that period were Scream 7, GOAT and Wuthering Heights. Another film, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, also performed well at the box office and ended up being among the top five movies for total money earned.
As of March 1, Melania has grossed a total of $16.6 million worldwide. The film is not being seen as a successful venture primarily because of its huge production cost — Amazon MGM Studios purchased the rights of the film for a whopping $40 million and spent another $35 million to promote and advertise it.
As of now, Melania has managed to earn just around $187,000 in other countries apart from the United States, according to The Numbers. Notably, cinemas in South Africa decided against showing the documentary in the country. Although the film was shown in a number of theatres in the United Kingdom, it performed rather poorly.
“She did the movie and it has become the biggest selling documentary in 20 years, can you believe it? The theaters are all packed. Women especially they go back and they see it 2 or 3 times.”
For your reading pleasure, here’s the top reviews of documentary “Melania”:🧵 pic.twitter.com/jUPb2k0MxZ
— Daractenus (@Daractenus) February 19, 2026
Since its release, the documentary has faced heavy scrutiny. One of the several points of contention was the fact that the film’s director, Brett Ratner, was mentioned multiple times in the Epstein files.
Moreover, there were allegations that the film used a music track from another film without taking the composer’s consent. Melania was also accused faking ticket sales to make the film look like it was a big success.
Post its theatrical run, the film will be available to stream on Amazon.
