Melania Trump’s Documentary Smashes Box Office Records With Surprise $7 Million Opening

Melania Trump has scored a major box office win as her big-budget documentary, Melania, delivered a surprise performance during its opening weekend, grossing an impressive $7.04 million in ticket sales.

Industry figures show the documentary far exceeded pre-release projections, which had estimated an opening between $3 million and $5 million. The result now stands as the largest opening weekend for a non-fiction film in the past decade.

The film overtook the previous record holder, After Death (2023), which debuted with $5 million, firmly placing Melaniaat the top of recent documentary releases.

The documentary premiered on Thursday, January 29, at the newly rebranded Kennedy Center, ahead of its global theatrical release on Friday, January 30. The project is backed by a reported $40 million deal with Amazon MGM Studios and supported by an aggressive $35 million marketing campaign.

Melania offers carefully curated insights into the former First Lady’s life in the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, providing a behind-the-scenes look at a pivotal moment in American political history.

The film also marks the return of director Brett Ratner to filmmaking after several years away from the industry following multiple misconduct allegations raised during the #MeToo movement. No criminal charges were filed against him.

Despite the controversy surrounding its director, the documentary’s opening weekend performance has been widely described as a major box office surprise, signaling strong public interest and commercial momentum.