It’s a first for a first lady.
Melania Trump’s documentary, “Melania: Twenty Days to History,” got a lavish Washington, D.C., premiere at the Kennedy Center on Thursday before rolling out on more than 1,500 screens in the U.S. and Canada this weekend.
The film, which follows her life in the run-up to last year’s inauguration, has few precedents. As a movie, it is one of the few political documentaries to receive a wide release. As a political object, it’s the first time a sitting first lady has had her life featured in what is ostensibly a film backed by the White House. And as a pop-culture curiosity, it has already become a totem for the Trump administration’s pursuit of an aggressive media strategy that has at times been backed by powerful figures in entertainment and tech.
“This movie is a wild card,” said Daniel Loria, senior vice president at the Boxoffice Company, a theatrical e-commerce and data services firm. “Movies like this haven’t gotten a lot of theatrical releases.”
And then there’s the timing. On Saturday evening, an exclusive list of guests got early access to the film at a private White House screening. The attendees, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Apple CEO Tim Cook and boxer Mike Tyson, were treated to commemorative popcorn boxes and “Melania” cookies.
The party was a stark contrast from the news dominating the day. That morning, Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse. The fallout was swift, both on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts and on its messaging around the shooting, which it has since softened. Democrats are demanding reforms and threatening a government shutdown.
In a Tuesday appearance on Fox News promoting the documentary, Melania Trump addressed the shooting, calling for “unity” and asking people to “protest in peace.”
It was a rare public appearance for a first lady who, until now, had maintained a particularly low profile in the second Trump administration. The few headlines she generated in the past year were mostly around her documentary.
In January 2025, Amazon MGM Studios acquired the film for $40 million — a massive sum for a documentary. The deal occurred shortly after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dined with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and critics called it a move to gain influence with the administration. At the time, Amazon said, “We licensed the upcoming Melania Trump documentary film and series for one reason and one reason only—because we think customers are going to love it.”
At Thursday's premiere, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he saw no issue with Amazon's move.
"Amazon is a business, and they’re in the business to make money," Johnson said in a brief interview with NBC News on the event's red carpet (which was actually black). " And I think they will make they will make money on this film. But it also has an inestimable value, in my view, for its cultural impact."
Melania Trump was intricately involved in every aspect of the Brett Ratner-directed film, according to a person close to her, from the music and lighting to promotional materials and color-correcting. Marc Beckman, a senior adviser to the first lady and the husband of Melania Trump’s friend designer Alice Roi, oversaw much of the business process of the documentary.
Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017, appeared to relish in his filmmaking comeback — posting selfies with Cook and others as he documented the evening on his Instagram story over the weekend. (Ratner has denied the allegations and was never charged.) The filmmaker spent a significant amount of time living at Mar-a-Lago while shooting the film, according to a source close to the first lady, and he has benefited from growing closer to the Trumps. In November, Semafor reported that a push from the president led Paramount Skydance to agree to distribute Ratner’s “Rush Hour 4” after a number of other studios passed. NBC News has not confirmed the president’s involvement, but a representative for Paramount Skydance confirmed to NBC News that Paramount will be distributing the movie.
Amazon spent roughly $35 million on the marketing campaign for the “Melania” film, an unusually large sum for a political documentary, promoting the film by projecting its trailer on the Las Vegas Sphere, buying ads during NFL playoff games and even issuing a special, commemorative popcorn bucket.
But her big-screen moment is already being met with a mixed response.
Online, reviewers on Letterboxd trashed the film (before seeing it), while others have shared screenshots of theaters full of unsold tickets in cities across the U.S. to make a case for the film’s lack of popularity. Meanwhile, box office experts say the film could launch in the $5 million range, making it a relatively solid opening by documentary standards.
Despite the online vitriol, the movie is attracting ticket buyers in markets including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Orlando, Florida, as well as in rural markets and with populations over 60, according to Steve Buck, chief strategy officer and partner at EntTelligence, a research firm.
Donald Trump won Texas, Arizona and Florida in the 2024 presidential election.
“The Trump base has always loved her, but there is a cross-section of apolitical curiosity seekers,” said Kate Bennett, former CNN correspondent and author of “Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography.” “There are many Americans who still have questions about this admittedly very mysterious woman. Is she happy? Is she influential to her husband? Is she different now than she was eight years ago?”
But if audiences are expecting something raw or authentic from the documentary, they’re likely going to be disappointed, according to Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s former chief of staff and press secretary who has since become a critic of the Trumps.
Grisham hasn’t seen the film, nor does she plan to. But based on her years working for the first lady, she said she doesn’t think a documentary about Melania Trump would be anything in-depth.
“They seem to be advertising it as, ‘Get a glimpse of the real her,’” Grisham said. “But she had 100% creative control. You’re only going to see what she wants you to see.”
