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Published Jan 28, 2026, 3:55 PM EST
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With only a few days until its UK premiere, UK cinemas are reporting sales for Melania in the single figures — the Amazon MGM Studios documentary about First Lady Melania Trump — with total sales, at the time of writing, barely breaching the two-figure mark. Despite Amazon's $75 million investment in the doc, there is little to no interest in it internationally.
Melania will premiere at UK cinema giant VUE, who plan to exhibit its first showing at its flagship branch in Islington. However, despite being released on 30 January, two days before the event, only one ticket has been sold. Two seats have been booked for the second showing later that evening, however.
Currently, there are no seats booked for the 28 screenings of Melania at the Blackburn, Castleford, and Hamilton branches. Cineworld, on the other hand, is leading the charge with a total of nine seats sold across all showings. At the time of writing, it appears that most cinemas showing Melania won't be seeing much in footfall.
While it may seem like a huge loss for the cinemas to choose to show a film that isn't having any uptake, an insider has revealed that it is likely the distributors are 'four-walling' the film. This practice sees the distributor pay the cinemas to air the film rather than the other way around.
This would be instantly clear when the box office numbers are released. However, the insider, speaking to The Guardian anonymously, suspected that the box office numbers for the film would almost certainly never be released, with Amazon MGM set to make an enormous financial loss on the film, if sales continue as they are.
Amazon MGM paid $40 million for the rights to the film. It has been reported that, of that, $30 million went straight to Melania herself. This is legal practice despite her close association with the President. Melania is a private citizen and isn't part of the government. In this way, Amazon MGM was able to make a sizable contribution to the administration without scrutiny.
However, despite Amazon's enormous payout for the rights to the movie, the film is set to be a flop. The premiere, hosted in the under-construction wing of the White House, boasted names such as Tim Cook and Mike Tyson. The public's response to the showing has not been particularly positive either.
There are still a few days for Melania to pick up in ticket sales. However, the polarizing political nature of Donald Trump and his lack of favor abroad doesn't suggest there will be many more sales before its premiere.
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