Melania

fillyboy said:
Oh dear.


If a collective groan was audible in Hollywood on Monday it wasn't from studio executives reaching for the Tylenol and black coffee after the previous night's Grammys celebrations.

No. Phones lit up across Tinseltown as dumbfounded studio heads bemoaned the fact that Amazon MGM Studio's documentary, MELANIA, had done what was, to the liberals of La La Land, unthinkable.

Forget the predictable drubbing the documentary about the First Lady's life in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump's second inauguration in January 2025, received from the critics.

Variety may have called it 'a piece of state-sanctioned propaganda out of 1960s Communist China.' Hollywood Reporter may have carped, 'To say that Melania is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.'

But all that really mattered were the numbers.

'Experts' had confidently predicted that MELANIA would only gross between $1 million and $2 million. Instead, the movie took $7 million at the box office, making it the most successful documentary (outside of concert films) in 14 years. It ranked third in last weekend's box office releases and beat action hero Jason Statham's latest flick, Shelter, which opened to a measly $5 million.

An executive at Disney told me: 'Everyone was so convinced MELANIA would flop we were at the point where people were putting major bets on in Vegas that it would gross less than a million.

'Those people have ended up with egg on their faces. Yet again Hollywood has underestimated the power of the conservative vote and the personal popularity of the first lady.

'She's an inspiration to so many people. I mean, look, the hot topic at the moment is immigration and here you have an immigrant from Slovenia who came to the States with nothing, married a billionaire who became president not once but twice and who has conducted herself with grace under fire.

'People are fascinated by her whether they like her or not and woke Hollywood has gotten it wrong - yet again.'

Indeed, last Friday as the film was released in theaters, I held several conversations with executives at various studios and agencies around LA, a city I've lived in and written about for the past 25 years.

Almost to a man and woman I was told MELANIA would flop, that the ICE protests in Minneapolis would be 'the final nail in the coffin' of any hope of box office success and that people, 'would rather go and watch Jason Statham blow up things than see a privileged woman discuss things like her wardrobe.'

Well, Melania and the studio that backed her sure got the last laugh. Jeff Bezos bet heavily on Melania's star-wattage, with the First Lady receiving a reported $28 million of the $40 million Amazon put down on the project. The studio spent another $35 million on marketing.

The gamble worked. MELANIA had extraordinary pulling power with women over 55 and did sell-out business in Florida (Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach), Texas (cinemas in Dallas and Houston reported people cheering and giving it a standing ovation) and Phoenix, Arizona, and Atlanta, Georgia.

More follows -long article.
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When someone like myself is interested in seeing this documentary you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be a roaring success. Same as if I were to do do a fly on the wall documentary on myself. Guaranteed blockbuster.
 
Highway Man said:
When someone like myself is interested in seeing this documentary you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be a roaring success. Same as if I were to do do a fly on the wall documentary on myself. Guaranteed blockbuster.
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I'd watch it if you paid me few hundred quid.
 
Damn, it must have sold out!
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^^^

My post #4 highlighted that a few days ago.

It's still pretty much the same:

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I know the politics on here is tribal but there is absolutely no reason to defend Melanie’s drivel.
 
blup said:
I know the politics on here is tribal but there is absolutely no reason to defend Melanie’s drivel.
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It's all about the numbers, delude yourself about tribalism if it helps ease your pain, but make no mistake, only the numbers count.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Box Office: ‘Melania’ Heads for $8 Million Opening, the Best Showing in a Decade for a Doc

Melania Trump's new Amazon MGM documentary — the most expensive in history — is even beating out Jason Statham's new action for a third-place finish behind 'Send Help' and 'Iron Lung' after galvanizing older conservative females and earning an A-CinemaScore.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
There has been a massive propaganda campaign by Republicans to boost the film.

They are targeting review sites like Rotten Tomatoes shown above.

And they are buying massive numbers of tickets and giving them away for free to stop the cinemas being empty.
 
fillyboy said:
It's all about the numbers, delude yourself about tribalism if it helps ease your pain, but make no mistake, only the numbers count.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Box Office: ‘Melania’ Heads for $8 Million Opening, the Best Showing in a Decade for a Doc

Melania Trump's new Amazon MGM documentary — the most expensive in history — is even beating out Jason Statham's new action for a third-place finish behind 'Send Help' and 'Iron Lung' after galvanizing older conservative females and earning an A-CinemaScore.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
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It cost $40 million to produce. :LOL:
 
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