How much movie Melania make?
Executive summary
The documentary Melania earned roughly $7 million at the North American box office in its opening weekend, with industry reporting putting the figure at about $7.04 million for that debut [1] [2]. That weekend result is being framed against a roughly $75 million total outlay—an estimated $40 million acquisition/production fee plus about $35 million in marketing—leaving immediate theatrical returns a small fraction of the overall investment [2] [3] [4].
1. Box-office headline: a roughly $7 million opening weekend
Multiple outlets report that Melania made about $7 million in ticket sales in the United States (and Canada in some tallies) during its opening weekend, with People putting the figure at $7.04 million and CNBC and The Guardian rounding to $7 million as the domestic debut number [1] [2] [4].
2. The cost side: $40m rights plus $35m marketing equals a $75m outlay
Public reporting converges on Amazon MGM paying an estimated $40 million to acquire the film—unusually high for a documentary—and on a marketing spend of roughly $35 million, producing an apparent combined investment near $75 million that critics and commentators have seized upon [2] [3] [4].
3. Why $7m looks small next to the $75m tab
Theaters typically retain about half of ticket revenues, so a $7 million box-office haul translates to roughly $3.5 million back to the distributor in that window, meaning the theatrical weekend recovery is a tiny sliver of the reported $75 million spent on acquisition and promotion [3]. Industry coverage notes that the opening weekend was the best non-music documentary debut in over a decade, but even that distinction doesn’t materially change the gap between receipts and the upfront cash outlay [2].
4. Is that all the film “made”? Distinguishing gross, distributor receipts and other revenue
News reports focus on the opening weekend gross; they do not provide a final total gross beyond that debut period, and long-term revenue will include streaming, international theatrical, and ancillary sales which have not been publicly tallied in the cited coverage [2] [5]. Wikipedia’s entry asserts that Melania Trump personally earned $28 million from the film, but that claim is presented in the summary without independent corroboration in the provided reporting and therefore should be treated as an asserted figure rather than an independently verified payout [6].
5. The political context changes how “how much it made” is interpreted
Coverage frames the film’s financials not only as entertainment economics but as a political and reputational transaction—commentators question why a tech giant paid such a high price and whether the deal functions like a payoff or strategic favor, an interpretation raised repeatedly in opinion pieces and industry analysis [7] [4]. Amazon and others deny improper motives, but the sheer size of the acquisition-plus-marketing figure is central to debate [3] [2].
6. Audience reaction versus critical reviews—does that affect box office totals?
Audience metrics reported early are polarized: Rotten Tomatoes “verified audience” scores and exit polls are strong, with some outlets noting very high user approval, while critical reviews are overwhelmingly negative and label the film propagandistic, a split that shapes future legs at the box office and streaming demand but is not yet decisive for total revenue [8] [2] [9].
7. Bottom line: immediate answer and limits of current reporting
Based on contemporaneous reporting, Melania “made” about $7 million at the North American box office in its opening weekend [1] [2], which—after typical exhibitor splits—represents only a small return against reported acquisition and marketing spending near $75 million [3] [2]. Final profitability cannot be determined from these sources alone because longer-term streaming payments, international receipts, ancillary sales, and any contractual payout to the film’s subjects remain undisclosed or are variably reported [5] [6].