With tensions in Minneapolis still high and a possible US military strike on Iran looming, movers and shakers in the Trump administration took a timeout on Thursday to attend a lavish event celebrating a big-budget documentary about first lady Melania Trump. The movie, “Melania,” was financed at an eyebrow-raising $75 million by Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon’s chairman, Jeff Bezos, also contributed to President Donald Trump’s inaugural fund earlier this year.
Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million to license the film and a related docuseries, which is scheduled for release later this year on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service. The first lady serves as one of the producers, who document the 20 days leading up to Trump’s 2025 inauguration and the family’s return to the White House.
The studio spent another $35 million promoting and distributing the movie, which will be available in about 25 territories outside North America. This week, promotional ads could be seen in places such as London’s Piccadilly Circus. Amazon, along with the film’s director, Brett Ratner, has rejected suggestions that the studio bought and promoted the film to curry favor with the administration.
“It wasn’t about getting rich,” Ratner told reporters at Thursday’s premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington. “I think the Trumps are wealthy and successful enough,” said Ratner, whose credits as a director include the “Rush Hour” film series with Jackie Chan.
Asked at the event if the Amazon film deal was to curry favor with him and the White House, Trump said that was fake news. “I’m not involved, and it was done with my wife.”
A spokesperson for Amazon told Reuters, “We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only – because we think customers are going to love it.”
The film offers rare access to the deeply private, enigmatic first lady, who has kept a low public profile during her husband’s second term. The trailer opens on Inauguration Day in January 2025, showing her donning a navy wide-brimmed hat for the ceremony at the US Capitol. It also depicts her role as an adviser to the president, including a moment where she encourages him to emphasize “peacemaker and unifier” in his inaugural address.
The film’s premiere was attended by top Trump administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. They strode upon a black – not red – carpet in front of a large backdrop emblazoned with the word “MELANIA” in black-and-white letters as flashbulbs popped.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the cabinet’s attendance was seen as obligatory. Kennedy stated that the first lady has largely been misunderstood; she is a deeply concerned person for her country.
The documentary opens in about 1,700 theatres in the U.S. and Canada on Friday, following a robust marketing campaign typical of major Hollywood releases, which included TV ads during NFL playoff games, billboards, and promotional videos projected on the exterior of Las Vegas’s Sphere.
Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, head of documentary film at UCLA, said the promotional budget was well above a typical budget for marketing documentary films, often relying on reviews and word-of-mouth to attract viewers. “It’s an extremely high budget for promotion of a documentary,” she stated. “It really feels like it’s so much in excess, like stuffing it down our throats.”
Box office forecasters predict “Melania” could bring in as much as $5 million during its opening weekend.
“The question is, for the opening weekend, ‘How much does Donald Trump’s appeal to the public extend to Melania?'” said Daniel Loria, senior vice president of The Boxoffice Company, a data analytics firm for cinemas.