Amazon’s Melania Trump documentary has beaten box office records for the strongest start of any documentary in over a decade, despite opening to scathing reviews.
The film earned US$7 million at the U.S. box office, surpassing Deadline’s $5 million forecast.
The film follows Melania preparing to be the first lady for the second time and was beat out in the box office by two horror films: Iron Lung and Send Help.
Despite beating expectations, this pales in comparison to how much the film cost to make and advertise.
According to the New York Times, Amazon paid $40 million for the rights to the film, with this fee including a related docu-series set to air later this year.
The budget for the ‘Melania’ documentary is unknown, but documentaries that follow a subject for a limited amount of time usually cost less than $5 million to produce.
‘Melania’ also had a marketing budget 10 times the amount of other high-profile documentaries at $35 million.
Donald Trump said he wasn’t involved in negotiations of the $75 million price tag for the film, and Melania said Amazon was the best because they agreed to do theatres all around the world.”
“We’re very encouraged by the strong start and positive audience response, with early box office for ‘Melania’ exceeding our expectations,” said Kevin Wilson, head of domestic theatrical distribution at Amazon MGM Studios.
“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.”
Amazon received backlash for spending so much on the film, especially after the company recently cut 16,000 jobs.
EntTelligence estimates that 600,000 people saw the documentary over the weekend.
Ticket sales were led by women and moviegoers over 55, with both demographics accounting for 70% or more of sales.
EntTelligence data also suggests that rural theatres represented 46% of total box office grosses.
The film received mostly negative reviews and has an 10% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
