Melania documentary crushes box office predictions after social media flooded with photos of empty theaters nationwide

The new documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, simply called Melania, has earned the best opening for a documentary in ten years. Before the film came out, social media was full of pictures showing empty seat maps in theaters across the country. Many people thought the film would fail.

Theater owners were worried about slow ticket sales and lowered their predictions to just $2 million to $4 million. But the film is now expected to make at least $8 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This puts it in third place behind two other new releases, Send Help and Iron Lung. It even beat Jason Statham’s new action movie, Shelter.

The studio spent $40 million to get the worldwide licensing rights for this project. This made Melania the most expensive documentary ever made. The studio also spent another $35 million on a global marketing campaign for the PG-rated film. Most big documentaries only get about $5 million to $7 million for domestic marketing.

The documentary’s success came from older conservative women

The ticket buyers for this film are very specific. About 72 percent of opening-day viewers were women over 55 years old, and 78 percent of all ticket buyers were in that age group. The grassroots marketing campaigns and support from the White House worked well in the South and South-central regions. President Trump went to the premiere in Washington, D.C., and has been telling his followers to watch the film.

Critics and audiences have completely opposite views about this documentary. Professional reviewers gave it terrible scores, with one calling it “Two Hours of Endless H—.” Critics gave it only a 6 percent score overall. But moviegoers loved it and gave the film an A CinemaScore. The audience score is currently at 98 percent, which is the highest of any film in the top 10 this weekend.

This big difference shows that supporters of the First Lady expected the negative reviews. They simply chose to ignore what they see as biased media. Documentaries often face similar criticism, much like how Chevy Chase addressed racism accusations in a recent film about his career. The weekend is full of other surprising performances too. The Rachel McAdams thriller Send Help is expected to open between $16 million and $18 million.

The indie horror movie Iron Lung, made by YouTube gaming star Mark Fischbach, is also expected to earn in that same range. For the studio, this theatrical run is part of a bigger plan to help its streaming service and get new subscribers. Since it’s a documentary, it will likely play in theaters for only about 10 days before moving to streaming around President’s Day weekend.

The studio will get two marketing campaigns for the price of one, which is a smart move. Documentaries can create unexpected cultural moments, similar to when a French winemaker gained attention after appearing briefly in Taylor Swift’s film. The film has caused some international issues. A distributor in South Africa, where President Trump is currently having disagreements, pulled the release earlier this week. However, the domestic success has set a new record for political documentaries.