Hoyts and Palace cinemas: Melania Trump’s documentary film sells embarrassing number of tickets

In Donald Trump’s first term as US president, Melania Trump was the subject of endless fascination.

From the “fake Melania” conspiracies that even the most rational persons in your life believed, to her trolling her critics with that “I really don’t care” jacket, she was enigmatic because no one could get a handle on the former model turned First Lady.

On the one hand, her body language and facial expressions suggested she didn’t actually like her husband, on the other, she stood by him steadfastly. What we knew for sure was she didn’t like being responsible for the White House’s Christmas decorations.

Melania became more symbol than person, someone you could project onto whatever you wanted the story to be — she was a victim, trapped in a loveless marriage, she was Lady Macbeth, plotting with her husband, she was, she was, she was.

One year into Trump’s second term, Melania has been even more elusive, spending very little time at the White House. When Trump demolished the East Wing, where the First Lady’s offices are kept, it didn’t matter to her operations because she was almost never in Washington D.C.

In Trump’s first 108 days in office this time around, the New York Times calculated she had spent fewer than two weeks there.

When some occasions demanded, she stood next to Trump, wordlessly, and hasn’t been active in any kind of campaign or passion project, and the evolution of her “Be Best” initiative may as well not exist.

The only thing you can pin to Melania for the past two years of Trump’s election campaign and tumultuous return to office is that there was a forthcoming documentary that would detail the 20-day lead-up to her husband’s second inauguration, promising exclusive access.

Now, it’s here, released today for a short stint in select cinemas before its eventual debut on Prime Video.

But Aussies aren’t that keen to see it, with only about 250 tickets sold Australia wide as of Friday afternoon.

Even before it arrived, it was riding a wave of controversy.

From the moment the documentary was confirmed, there were accusations of cronyism and buying favour. Amazon Prime Video and its billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, outbid rivals to pay $US40 million to release the film.

Of that $US40 million price tag, reportedly $US28 million will be paid to Melania herself, while a further $US35 million have been committed to promote its release.

That is a lot of amount of money for a documentary, especially at a time when documentary makers have been bemoaning the belt-tightening within the industry, raising concerns about its future viability, especially if you’re making a film that isn’t true crime.

Why would Amazon agree to that level of financial investment? Does it genuinely expect to recoup that cash through subscriptions, ticket sales or goodwill from Trump supporters?

The wider consensus seems to be that what Bezos really paid for was to ingratiate himself and his business with a presidential administration that has declared itself very much open to such overtures.

The Bezos-controlled, formerly venerable newspaper The Washington Post was banned from publishing an endorsement of Kamala Harris in the last election cycle while Amazon, like many tech companies, donated $US1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Amazon has also donated to Trump’s kitty to erect his golden ballroom.

The choice of filmmaker also raised eyebrows – and made some stomachs churn – with director Brett Ratner picked to helm.

Ratner was taken off the Hollywood board in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct were levelled against him by six women, including actors Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge.

Warner Bros, the studio he worked with the most, severed ties with Ratner in the aftermath. Even Playboy distanced itself from Ratner, and cancelled the planned biopic he was to make of Hugh Hefner.

Ratner’s films included the Rush Hour trilogy, and he was a one-time producing partner of James Packer through their company RatPac.

After his exile from Hollywood, Ratner attached himself to powerful figures including the Trumps, through his residency at Mar-a-Lago, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Melania’s senior advisor, Marc Beckman, told The Times Ratner had been chosen because “he understood how to bring this cinematic, stylised quality to the film that the First Lady envisioned”.

Ratner seems to have a springboard back into the film business with Melania and beyond.

In November, Puck reported that Paramount, now controlled by Trump friend and tech billionaire Larry Ellison (who is part of the consortium that has bought TikTok’s US operations), has agreed to distribute but not fund a fourth Rush Hour movie, to be directed by Ratner.

In Trumpland, it pays to be loyal.

Unsurprisingly, the Melania film was not made available through either press screenings or reviewer screener links before its release, and the first showing was at the White House the previous weekend.

It was limited to a small crowd and took place at a time when the US was reckoning with a second killing of an American citizen, nurse Alex Pretti, at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Guests included Apple boss Tim Cook, Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy, Mike Tyson, Queen Rania of Jordan and members of Trump’s cabinet.

A second gala premiere at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Centre was to include on its guest list Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Wolf of Wall Street inspiration Jordan Belfort and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The question is how much mainstream appeal will the Melania film have?

In Australia, it is playing in select Hoyts and Palace cinemas across capital cities. At mid-afternoon on Friday, most sessions around the country had pre-sold fewer than 20 seats.

Hoyts Entertainment Quarter in Sydney had the highest number of reservations with one session boasting 22 patrons.