Amazon’s $75 million documentary about First Lady Melania Trump had its first private screening in a makeshift theater at the White House on Saturday evening.
The White House Family Theater, a small 40-seater where presidents have traditionally screened films, was demolished in October to make way for Trump’s gaudy new $400 million ballroom.
Melania is already slated to get an official red-carpet premiere at the newly rebranded The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday evening, one day ahead of its official release.
However, owing to the ice storm bearing down on Washington D.C., Trump’s third wife decided to throw a small, 70-person screening of the film at the White House for friends, family, and various elites, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
So far, only the film’s director, Brett Ratner, Melania, and a small number of associates have seen the movie, making Saturday the debut for President Donald Trump, son Barron Trump, and close allies.
Other guests reportedly in attendance included Queen Rania of Jordan, Apple CEO Tim Cook, legendary boxer Mike Tyson, and self-help coach Tony Robbins.
The screening reportedly took place in the East Wing of the White House in a screening room cobbled together by Melania herself, with state-of-the-art film and sound equipment overseen by Ratner.
No expense was spared to make up for the last-minute location, with framed souvenir movie tickets and commemorative popcorn boxes printed for the occasion.
Guests were welcomed by a full military band playing “Melania’s Waltz,” a tune written for the film by composer Tony Neiman.
The documentary is widely expected to bomb when it opens in cinemas nationally on Friday, Jan. 30th. Entertainment reporter Rob Shuter reported that advance ticket sales are “dismal,” with theaters expected to be “practically empty.”
The film itself has been funded by Amazon and cost a reported $40 million to make. Billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos has reportedly spent an additional $35 million on marketing for the film and ordered underlings to attend the satellite premiere screenings held in almost two dozen cities across the country on Thursday.
Despite the multinational’s best efforts to get the film into some 1,400 cinemas across the country ahead of its streaming release, Melania is reportedly on track to make a dismal $5 million in its opening weekend. Figures may be held back if they are as bad as projected, Shuter again reports.
Clips of audiences booing the trailer when it has been shown in cinemas have gone viral.
The film follows Melania during the “20 days” prior to her husband’s second presidential inauguration in January of last year.
Ratner is thought to have spent months living at the Trumps’ Florida residence of Mar-a-Lago ahead of the shooting. It will be the Rush Hour director’s first film since 2014’s Hercules. His career stalled in 2017, after multiple women accused him of sexual assault or harassment.
A month ahead of the film’s release, Ratner popped up in an Epstein files release, posing topless with accused sex-trafficker Jean-Luc Brunel.
The reconstructed East Wing is slated to include a new, modernized movie theater, which is expected to be opened when the construction project is finished in 2029, after Trump leaves office.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
