Melania Trump’s new documentary is heading into cinemas facing signs of a very difficult opening. In at least one major US theatre, not a single ticket has been sold for a prime-time showing, raising questions about how much interest there really is in the film despite the huge money behind it.
The documentary, which focuses on Melania’s life in the days leading up to Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, is being rolled out across hundreds of cinemas in the US and internationally this Friday. Amazon, which is distributing the film, reportedly spent around $40 million promoting and launching it in theatres around the world.
But early signs suggest audiences may not be rushing to see it. At the busiest cinema in the Jacksonville metro area, every seat was still available for a 9.55pm screening on opening night. The theatre’s website showed no tickets sold at all, with customers even able to buy up to 20 seats at once if they wanted.
This does not appear to be an isolated case. A user on X shared a screenshot from a cinema in Atlanta showing the same situation for a 3.30pm screening, with not a single seat taken. The user wrote that it was opening night at a busy theatre, yet ticket sales were at zero.
The lack of buzz may not be limited to the US. In the UK, interest also seems muted. Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue Cinemas, told The Telegraph that early demand for the documentary had been weak ahead of its British release. Even so, the film is still scheduled to open in nearly 30 countries, including screenings across the UK’s largest cinema chains such as Odeon, Vue, Cineworld and Showcase.
The documentary follows the final 20 days before the January 2025 presidential inauguration. During this period, Melania Trump allowed Amazon MGM Studios behind-the-scenes access to her daily life, offering what she describes as a private and unfiltered look at how she balanced family responsibilities, business interests and philanthropic work during a major transition in her life.
Melania has spoken publicly about why she felt the project was important. She said those 20 days were a defining and historic moment, and that this chapter of her life had never been shown to the public before. She described the film as an invitation for audiences around the world to see how she prepared for the role of First Lady during an intense and closely watched period.
In interviews, she stressed that the story deserved a high level of care and quality, saying it was essential to produce the documentary to a cinematic standard suitable for theatres worldwide. She said she was proud to share this very specific moment of her life, calling it a time of intense planning, pressure and transition, and hoped viewers would appreciate seeing it unfold on the big screen.
Despite those ambitions and the large budget behind the release, the empty seats seen so far suggest the film may struggle to attract large audiences, at least in its early days. Whether interest picks up after opening weekend remains to be seen, but the quiet start has already sparked discussion about how much appetite there really is for the documentary among cinema-goers.
