First Lady Melania Trump’s new film, Melania, pulled in $7 million during its opening weekend, making it the best opening weekend for a documentary in a decade. However, that’s not its only accomplishment. It also obliterated the two movies about former President Barack Obama that were released in theaters. In 2018, the film The Final Year was shown in theaters and ultimately ended up being a huge humiliation for all those involved in its creation.
The movie was marketed as “a chronicle of the Barack Obama administration’s foreign policy team and the events of Obama’s final year in office.” It failed rather spectacularly, only being shown in a total of 39 theaters across the country. Keep in mind, the film was a limited release that was banking on word of mouth to justify a wider release until it became a hit.
After two weeks of release, the film brought in a measly $262,286. While the film was likely released in Democratic strongholds like Los Angeles and New York, The Final Year only grossed $121 per theater during its opening weekend in eight theaters. Melania on the other hand, was released in 1,778 theaters and grossed $1,035 per theater.
According to Breitbart News, film critics went bananas over The Final Year, as the film was given a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 83%. Moviegoers, however, only gave it a 49%, which means they thought the documentary was “rotten.” The movie had 105 reviews, most of which were positive, giving it a significant amount of free press, yet it still only made $121 per theater.
In 2016, a movie about Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date, Southside With You, was released during the summer across America and in six other foreign countries. The worldwide box office numbers for the movie earned only $6.6 million. In the U.S., the film was released in 897 theaters, yet still failed to top the numbers pulled in by Melania.
Southside With You spent 70 days in theaters, had a 92% fresh rating, opened at the Sundance Film Festival, and was a narrative film, yet did not pull in numbers equivalent to those brought in by Melania. The first lady’s film also managed to earn more money at the box office than the whole domestic run of five movies that are currently nominated for Academy Awards.
Two of the films Melania out-grossed are Best Picture nominees. The Secret Agent, which has four nominations, including Best Picture, Actor, Casting, and Foreign Film, only brought in $3.25 million. Another film, Sentimental Value, which has a whopping 8 nominations for Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Foreign Film, and Editing, earned $4.57 million. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, nominated for Best Actress, earned $1.09 million, while Blue Moon, nominated for Best Actor, Original Screenplay, earned $2.11 million. And finally, It Was Just an Accident, nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Foreign Film, brought in $1.78 million.
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Breitbart entertainment writer John Nolte noted that some will attempt to downplay the success of the first lady’s documentary by pointing out that some of the films listed above are foreign movies. He counters that argument by reminding readers that Melania is the story of an immigrant and then points out that there have been many foreign films over the years that made over $7 million.