This film is shaping up to be an unprecedented failure…
“Based on recent events, we’ve decided not to move forward with a theatrical release in that region,” said Thobashan Govindarajulu, the head of sales and marketing for Filmfinity, the company that held local rights to the film “Melania.”
The movie had already gone through South Africa’s classification and regulatory checks and had set up bookings with two major movie theater chains in the country.
It’s not clear whether these recent events are connected to Trump’s increasingly harsh crackdown on people in the U.S. and the violent attacks by his masked supporters, or if it’s more about general backlash against his administration.
Trump has strained relations with South Africa through his harmful tariffs and by spreading false information about a supposed “white genocide” in the country.
According to Meidas News, industry sources said that South Africans were especially worried about a film that clearly aims to present Melania Trump in a positive light, especially considering the country’s painful past with propaganda during Apartheid.
The film has faced a lot of criticism because Amazon spent a huge amount of money on it—$40 million just for the film, plus another $35 million on advertising.
That’s way more than what is usually spent on real documentaries. Some people see this as a clear attempt to win favor with the White House. And it doesn’t help that the film is directed by Brett Ratner, who has been accused of rape and appears in the Epstein files.
Of course, there’s also a much simpler reason.
It’s likely that the distributor realized ticket sales would be very low and decided to stop before losing more money. Most people outside of the most extreme MAGA supporters don’t want to watch a bad movie about the worst First Lady in American history. She’s a harmful stain on our nation’s values, and no amount of flattering films can change that fact.
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