Billionaire Jeff Bezos is sending in reinforcements to support First Lady Melania Trump’s flailing “documentary.”
The $40 million vanity project acquired by Amazon MGM Studios is facing slow initial sales as its theatrical premiere date nears.
Besides the hefty licensing fee—which was largely seen as a way to appease President Donald Trump—Amazon has committed a staggering $35 million to show Melania in more than 1,400 theaters in 27 countries before making it available on streaming, Puck reported.
For all that, the film is only projected to bring in about $5 million during its opening weekend, according to Puck. Social media has also been flooded with videos of audiences booing the trailer when it plays in theaters in large cities.
To prop up the film, Amazon is holding premiere events in nearly two dozen cities nationwide on Jan. 29, a day before the film’s general release, Fox News Digital reported.
The president and first lady will attend the marquee event at the beleaguered Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., but premieres will also take place in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, as well as in Orlando, Florida, Phoenix, Arizona, and Detroit, Michigan.
In an apparent show of support for the film, Amazon executives are also being dispatched to attend premiere events, according to Fox News.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Amazon MGM Studios for comment.
According to Puck, the $35 million P&A spend to market and release the film is “far more” than the budget for Taylor Swift’s 2023 concert documentary The Eras Tour, which earned more than $120 million worldwide during its opening weekend.
The film went on to bring in more than $260 million globally, according to AMC Theatres.
Melania’s projected $5 million haul would actually be a decent showing for a documentary, if it weren’t for that $75 million price tag, according to Puck.
Then there’s the fact that her team has been working hard to position Melania as no mere documentary.
The first lady’s agent and adviser, Marc Beckman, told Fox News that Melania Trump was heavily involved in every aspect of production and post-production, with the goal of creating “a very rich, cinematic experience unlike anything that has been created before.”
“This is not a documentary,” he said. “This is a film.”
Amazon has refused to share the film with critics ahead of its release, revealing only that it follows the first lady during the 20 days leading up to Trump’s second inauguration. Beckman told Fox that it shows what a first lady “has to do to get her family ready, on the personal side, to retake the office, on a professional side.”
Ironically, the first lady doesn’t even live in the White House and is reportedly holed up in a tower at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, which she made her permanent residence in October 2025, the Daily Beast discovered.
Melania Trump reportedly pitched the project herself to Bezos and his then-girlfriend Lauren Sanchez over dinner at Trump’s estate. The first lady chose Amazon over other studies because it agreed to do “a quality film in theaters” followed by a docuseries.
The project was helmed by Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, who was been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. (Ratner has denied the allegations.) In December, Ratner was spotted in a photo released as part of the Epstein files.
The director was attached to the film before it was acquired, Puck reported, though it’s not clear how he became involved.
