- “Melania” is expanding to over 2,000 screens this weekend.
- The movie earned $7 million on 1,778 screens in its opening weekend January 30.
- The movie will have stiff competition as it will be up against the Super Bowl.
“Melania” is expanding in its second weekend in theaters.
After the Amazon MGM Studios documentary on first lady Melania Trump earned a better-than-expected $7 million on 1,778 screens in its opening weekend, the Brett Ratner-directed doc is now going to be on almost 300 more.
“Melania” will be available on a total of 2,003 screens this weekend, Business Insider can exclusively report.
Amazon declined to comment.
“The abundance of press worked wonders for ‘Melania’ as the film expands to over 2,000 theaters this weekend,” Exhibitor Relations box-office analyst Jeff Bock told Business Insider. “Whether or not that will help its legs remains to be seen. Super Bowl weekend is a notoriously slow time at movie theaters.”
That’s right, “Melania” has stiff competition as it goes up against the biggest spectacle of the year: NFL Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
The doc’s $7 million opening weekend box-office haul was a 10-year best for a documentary released in theaters (Whether Amazon makes back the $40 million it paid to acquire “Melania” and the $35 million it spent on marketing is another story.)
Since the movie’s opening, Business Insider reported that a religious freedom group said some US military were “pressured” by their commanding officers to see the movie.
A Department of Defense official told Business Insider, “There is no Department of War directive requiring service members to see this film, though the film is fantastic.”
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