Trump Cabinet attends black carpet premiere of Amazon‑backed documentary Melania
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The movie Melania documents the 20 days leading up to Mr Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration and the Trump family’s return to the White House.
PHOTO: DOUG MILLS/NYTIMES
WASHINGTON – With tensions in Minneapolis still high and a possible US military strike big-budget documentary about First Lady Melania Trump.
The movie, Melania, was financed at an eyebrow-raising US$75 million (S$95 million) by Amazon MGM Studios.
Amazon’s chairman, Mr Jeff Bezos, also contributed to President Donald Trump’s inaugural fund earlier in 2026.
Amazon MGM Studios paid US$40 million to license the film and a related docuseries, which is scheduled to be released later in 2026 on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service.
Mrs Trump is one of the producers of the film, which documents the 20 days leading up to Mr Trump’s 2025 inauguration
The studio spent another US$35 million promoting and distributing the movie, which will be available in about 25 territories outside North America, according to a person familiar with the matter. This week, promotional ads could be seen in places such as London’s Piccadilly Circus.
Amazon, along with the film’s director, Mr Brett Ratner, have rejected suggestions that the studio bought and promoted the film to curry favour with the administration.
“It wasn’t about getting rich,” Mr Ratner told reporters at the Jan 29 premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
“I think the Trumps are wealthy and successful enough,” said Mr Ratner, whose credits as a director include the Rush Hour film series with Jackie Chan.
Mr Trump, asked at the event if the Amazon film deal was to curry favour with him and the White House, said that was fake news.
“I’m not involved, and it was done with my wife,” he said.
A spokesman for Amazon told Reuters: “We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only: because we think customers are going to love it.”
Black, not red, carpet
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 in which she encourages him to emphasise “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 Defence 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.
Mr Kennedy said the first lady has “largely been misunderstood. She’s a deep person. She’s deeply concerned about our country”.
The documentary opens in about 1,700 theatres in the US and Canada on Jan 30, following a robust marketing campaign of the kind typically associated with a major Hollywood release, one that included television ads during the National Football League playoff games, billboards and a promotional video projected on the exterior of Las Vegas’ Sphere entertainment venue.
Associate Professor Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, head of documentary film at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the promotional budget was well above a typical budget for marketing documentary films, which often rely on reviews and word-of-mouth to attract viewers.
“It’s an extremely high budget for promotion of a documentary,” said Prof Guevara-Flanagan. “It really feels like it’s so much in excess it’s like stuffing it down our throats.”
Box office forecasters predict Melania could bring in as much as US$5 million on opening weekend.
“The question is, for opening weekend, ‘How much does Donald Trump’s appeal to the public extend to Melania?’” said Mr Daniel Loria, senior vice-president of The Boxoffice Company, a data analytics firm for cinemas. REUTERS
