Imagine a scenario where movie enthusiasts are flocking to see 'Melania,' the new documentary directed by Brett Ratner, which explores the life of the first lady. It's surprising to think that Minneapolis, of all places, has become a hotspot for ticket sales to this $75 million film. In fact, reports indicate that tickets are being snapped up at a surprisingly brisk pace, or at least at a moderate speed.
After its opening weekend, which exceeded expectations by raking in $7.2 million across approximately 1,800 theaters, 'Melania' achieved the best debut for a non-concert documentary in the past ten years. As a result, the film is set to expand to 2,000 theaters, with many of these new locations situated in predominantly liberal cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and yes, even Minneapolis—where recent tragic events involving ICE agents have ignited ongoing protests.
Marc Beckman, who has been a long-time advisor to Melania Trump and was instrumental in securing her $40 million licensing agreement with Amazon (which also allocated an additional $35 million for marketing), acknowledges that the film may not appeal to everyone. "Look, the movie isn’t for everybody," he states. "But for those who supported Trump, it resonates deeply with them. It’s quite gratifying—especially given the overwhelmingly negative narrative—to witness its success in both liberal and conservative regions."
The actual reception of the film, however, is open to interpretation. A casual examination of theater listings in Minneapolis reveals that while some venues like AMC Southdale 16 are experiencing a fair amount of activity—having sold 15 out of 80 seats for its February 3 screening at 6:45 PM, which isn't too shabby for a typically quiet Tuesday evening—other locations tell a different story. For instance, the AMC Eden Prairie Mall 18 boasts nearly half of its seats filled, with 26 sold for a 6:15 showing. Interestingly, all of these sold tickets are grouped together, hinting that they may have been bought in one block, or perhaps that movie-goers in Minneapolis are just exceptionally friendly compared to other cities. Yet, the subsequent showing at 7:30 PM in the same theater attracted little interest, with only two tickets sold.
On the flip side, AMC Inver Grove 16 is lagging significantly, having sold just three tickets for its 6:45 PM show, while Coon Rapids 16 reported a dismal turnout of zero tickets sold for the 7:30 screening.
Looking ahead, viewers will have even greater access to the film when it becomes available for streaming on Amazon Prime. This will coincide with a docuseries featuring two or three episodes about Melania Trump, utilizing additional footage captured by Ratner. However, don't expect this to be available anytime soon; Beckman predicts it won’t hit the platform until sometime during the summer.
