MELANIA TRUMP BOX OFFICE RESULTS REVEALED AFTER 'EMPTY' SCREENINGS

It was hailed as one of the most talked-about political documentaries of the year - but when Melania hit UK cinemas, the crowds were nowhere to be seen. The documentary about Donald Trump's wife and current US first lady may have struggled to pull in British audiences on its opening weekend, but across the Atlantic, it told a very different story. In the UK, Melania opened at No. 29 at the box office, taking £32,974 from 155 cinemas. That translated into a modest screen average of £212.80, with advance ticket sales already described by Vue chief executive Tim Richards as "soft" ahead of release.

As the weekend unfolded, attendance appeared patchy. Several screenings reportedly played to sparse crowds, with some locations showing the film to empty rooms. Journalists were among those filling seats at certain venues, including Vue Islington, where screenings were largely booked by the media. On Friday, reporters rushed to see the film after Amazon opted not to hold preview screenings.

The Independent attended a showing at Vue Westfield in Stratford that was almost deserted, with just four other audience members present - two of them fellow journalists. But in the US, Melania performed far more strongly.

Released in more than 1,500 North American cinemas, the Amazon MGM Studios film surpassed initial expectations, generating around $7m over its opening weekend. Analysts had projected closer to $5m - a figure that would already have been considered solid by documentary standards.

Instead, the result marked the strongest opening for a non-music documentary in more than a decade, with the film taking the No. 3 spot overall for the weekend. It finished behind YouTuber Mark Fischbach's independently financed horror film Iron Lung and Sam Raimi's Send Help.

Amazon MGM Studios' head of domestic theatrical distribution, Kevin Wilson, praised the film's "strong start", while stopping short of declaring it an outright win. The studio paid roughly $40m to acquire the Brett Ratner-directed project and is reported to have spent a further $35m on marketing.

The promotion included projecting the trailer onto the Las Vegas Sphere and releasing a branded popcorn bucket-an unusually aggressive campaign for a political documentary.

The strong US opening came despite widespread critical hostility. Some reviewers trashed the film online before release, while critics at outlets including The Hollywood Reporter dismissed it as an "expensive propaganda doc" offering an "up-close and not-so-personal portrait" of the first lady.

Audience response, however, has been overwhelmingly positive. US cinema-goers awarded the film an A grade via CinemaScore, while it currently sits at 99 per cent with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Around 70 per cent of the opening-weekend audience was female, and an estimated 600,000 people saw the film in its first three days.

Melania follows the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump's second inauguration in January 2025 and is backed by the White House.

Asked who the film was aimed at, Melania said at the premiere: "Everybody will connect on a certain level. Teenagers can go to see, young women can go to see and be inspired that they could have a family and business, as well."

2026-02-04T17:19:40Z