The documentary is coming in third overall for the weekend, behind the Sam Raimi-directed thriller 'Send Help' ($20 million) and 'Iron Lung' ($17.8 million), a video game adaptation from YouTuber Mark Fischbach (better known as Markiplier). Amazon paid $40 million to acquire 'Melania' and is reportedly spending $35 million to promote it. So even though the documentary is outperforming pre-release estimates predicting a $3 to $5 million opening weekend, it's unlikely to make a profit in theaters. Amazon's bid came in $26 million ahead of the next highest bidder, Disney, leading critics to suggest the deal had less to do with the film's box office potential and more with winning over the Trump administration. Veteran film executive Ted Hope, who worked at Amazon from 2015 to 2020, told The New York Times that the film 'has to be the most expensive documentary ever made that didn't involve music licensing.' This is the first film directed by Brett Ratner since 2017, when multiple women...
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