Melania Documentary Faces Australian Box Office Disaster
Amazon's lavish $106 million documentary about former US First Lady Melania Trump has suffered a disastrous opening weekend in Australian cinemas, debuting at a dismal 31st position in the national box office charts. The film, simply titled Melania, managed to generate just $32,399 from its 33 screens across the country, resulting in a paltry average of $982 per screen.
Comparisons Highlight Poor Performance
The documentary's underwhelming performance becomes particularly stark when compared to other films currently showing in Australian cinemas. Melania placed one position below Wicked: For Good, which has been screening for over two months yet still managed to earn $33,231 from 35 screens during the same weekend period. This comparison underscores the documentary's failure to capture Australian audience interest despite its substantial production budget and promotional campaign.
Global Embargo and Opening Challenges
Due to a worldwide embargo imposed by Amazon, Melania opened in Australian cinemas on Friday rather than the traditional Thursday opening. This scheduling meant the film missed out on one full day of potential takings in its opening weekend figures, which are typically calculated from Thursday through Sunday. However, industry analysts note that opening weekends generally represent the strongest performance for films lacking positive word-of-mouth momentum, suggesting Melania has likely already peaked in the Australian market.
International Performance Varies
The documentary's performance has shown significant variation across different international markets. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Melania screened in 155 cinemas and generated £32,974 (approximately A$64,000) during its opening weekend, resulting in a screen average of £212.80 (about A$415). Meanwhile, in the United States, the documentary enjoyed the strongest opening for any documentary in over a decade, earning US$7 million during its heavily promoted debut weekend.
Financial Realities and Break-Even Targets
Despite its strong US opening, Melania faces substantial financial challenges. The documentary carried an unusually high production cost of US$40 million, with an additional US$35 million spent on promotion and marketing. To achieve break-even status, the film needs to generate approximately US$100 million in global box office revenue, a target that appears increasingly ambitious given its poor performance in markets like Australia.
Political Allegations and Director's Defence
The documentary has faced widespread criticism as being a blatant attempt by Amazon to curry favour with former President Donald Trump. Director Brett Ratner, who has largely retreated from Hollywood following numerous sexual misconduct allegations during the #MeToo movement, has vehemently denied these claims. At the film's premiere, Ratner stated: "I can tell you right now, if we were audited and they said, 'How much was spent on this movie?' This movie is one of the most expensive movies – documentaries – in the genre ever made."
Ratner further defended the substantial budget, explaining: "It wasn't about getting rich. I mean, I think the Trumps are wealthy and successful enough. This is about giving me the ability to hire the best crew in the world, to not only score the film with the best composer ... I mean, when you see the movie, you'll go, 'Oh, we see where the money went now.' This wasn't about corruption."
Critical Reception and Public Response
The documentary has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and audiences alike. Guardian critic Xan Brooks described the film as "dispiriting, deadly and unrevealing," noting that while a decent documentary could be made about the former model from Slovenia, this particular effort was "unredeemable."
The critical consensus reflects this negative assessment:
- Currently scoring just 6% on reviews aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes
- Earning six out of 100 on Metacritic
- Receiving a rating of 1.3/10 from more than 32,000 votes on the Internet Movie Database
Remarkably, the film's IMDb rating represents an improvement from its earlier score of 1.0, which briefly made it the platform's lowest-rated movie of all time.
Political Figures Distance Themselves
Both Donald and Melania Trump have sought to distance themselves from the documentary's financial arrangements. The former president has told reporters he "wasn't involved" in negotiations over the documentary's substantial price tag. Meanwhile, Melania Trump has stated that producers approached several distributors, but "Amazon was the best because they agreed to do theatres all around the world."
The documentary's poor Australian performance, combined with its mixed international reception and scathing critical reviews, raises significant questions about the commercial viability of high-budget political documentaries and the challenges of translating US political figures to international audiences.
