Amid criticism and trolling, Amazon MGM’s newly released documentary on US First Lady Melania Trump has debuted with an abysmal eight per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Brett Ratner-directed film has struggled to generate advance ticket sales across major markets, with reports of sparsely booked or empty screenings in parts of the UK, the US and Canada.
The 104-minute documentary released in the US and the UK on January 30.
According to The Guardian, ahead of its London premiere on Friday, only one ticket was sold for a mid-afternoon screening at a cinema in Islington, while just two tickets were snapped up for an evening show at the same venue. The situation appeared even bleaker across major multiplexes, with all scheduled screenings at Vue theatres in London recording zero advance sales.
A viral Craigslist listing offering viewers USD 50 besides a free ticket to watch Melania sparked a fresh wave of memes and jokes amid the film’s weak box office opening.
The ad urged participants to attend any Boston-area screening of the film for free and collect cash, provided they sit through the entire runtime.
“A level of insipid propaganda that almost resists review; it’s so expected and utterly pointless,” a critic from the US-based entertainment magazine The Daily Beast wrote about the documentary.
Taking a dig at the documentary’s sluggish box office performance, an X user wrote, “Not one ticket sold yet for #Melania. Hope this movie makes 7 bucks. “Melania has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography in the FIFA Oscar,” posted another.
The documentary, produced by Amazon MGM Studios, follows Melania Trump during the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration and is expected to move to Prime Video after its theatrical run.
As per reports, Amazon MGM Studios has invested nearly USD 40 million to license the documentary and a docu-series. The production banner has further invested USD 35 million in marketing, taking the total budget for the project to USD 75 million.
However, despite its flamboyant budget, the documentary hasn’t been made widely accessible for critics before its theatrical release. On its premiere day, most of the mainstream media platforms were excluded from a special screening, according to a report by Variety.