Melania, the documentary about First Lady Melania Knauss, arrived in third place on an estimated $7m over the weekend through Amazon MGM Studios to deliver the highest debut by a non-music documentary or concert film at the North American box office in more than a decade.
The feature follows the former Slovenian model in the 20 days leading up to the second inauguration in 2025 of her husband and US president Donald Trump. It came in slightly below $8m forecasts and opened in 1,778 sites, earning $2.9m on Friday, $2.3m on Saturday, and $1.8m on Sunday.
Amazon MGM Studios reportedly paid $40m to acquire the film and an additional $35m to market it – a huge promotional budget typically way beyond the reach of most documentary distributors that included NFL play-off commercials and a takeover at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
The film reportedly needs to gross in the region of $40m to break even, although in reality the theatrical release promotes the film before it lands on Prime Video. Amazon MGM Studios’ licencing deal includes the film and an upcoming docuseries. Head of domestic theatrical Kevin Wilson said, “This momentum is an important first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for both the film and the forthcoming docu-series, extending well beyond the theatrical window and into what we believe will be a significant run for both on our service.”
Brett Ratner directed Melania, marking his return to the Hollywood fold since allegations of sexual impropriety by multiple women emerged in 2017, which he has denied. Over the weekend, newly-released files from the Department of Justice showed a photograph of the filmmaker cuddling a woman on a sofa next to the late disgraced former financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
While critics were not allowed to see Melania prior to release, it earned an A CinemaScore from audiences. Amazon MGM Studios said the audience was split 70%-50% female-male, with 72% aged 55 and over, while 75% of the crowd was while, 11% Hispanic, 2% African America, and 8% Native America.
EntTelligence reported on Sunday that approximately 600,000 people turned out to watch the documentary and there was a 53%-47% Red state-Blue state split along political lines.
While the highest-grossing US county was Republican-leaning Maricopa in Phoenix, Arizona – which Trump won back in the 2024 election after losing it in 2020 – the next four in the top five were the Democrat strongholds of Los Angeles and Orange County in the Los Angeles area; Harris in Houston, Texas, which just returned a Democrat Representative in a special election over the weekend; and Palm Beach in the West Palm Beach area in Florida, the state where Trump and Knauss live. Trump came close to flipping West Palm Beach in the 2024 election.
Rural population centres with between 100,000 and 500,000 people accounted for the 39% lion’s share of ticket buyers.
20th Century Studios/Disney’s Send Help starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien opened strongly for an original horror at number one through Disney in 3,475 locations, while Iron Lung, a microbudget sci-fi horror directed by YouTuber Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier), arrived in second place in 3,015 sites and was distributed independently.
Disney’s Zootopia 2 ranked fourth in its tenth weekend on $5.8m from 2,880 sites for a $409m running total. Shelter, the Jason Statham action title that marked Black Bear’s second release since launching a US distribution arm last year, arrived in fifth place on $5.5m from 2,726 venues.
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