Friday is the general release of the documentary Melania, a film about President Donald Trump’s third wife and first lady of the United States. A WIRED analysis shows that there are still plenty of seats available, unless you live near the AMC Classic Indian River 24 in Vero Beach, Florida. Or the AMC Independence Commons 20 in Independence, Missouri.
Melania was produced by Amazon MGM Studios and directed by Brett Ratner, who is well known for both his Rush Hour series (another sequel of which is currently in production at Trump’s request) and for being accused of sexual misconduct by six different women. Ratner, who has previously denied the sexual misconduct allegations, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The trailer for Melania appears to largely feature the first lady traipsing around various grand rooms in sunglasses. There are many close-ups of her high-heel-clad feet walking on: rugs, hardwood floors, pavement, stairs, and so on. Her iconic boater hat—the one that hides her eyes—also makes an appearance.
Both Trump and the production studio behind Melania have spent lavishly in promoting the film’s release. The documentary reportedly cost Amazon $40 million for the rights, and another $35 million in marketing. The White House hosted a special screening of it for a group of CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook and AMD’s Lisa Su. And Trump has touted the movie on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying, ”Get your tickets today – Selling out, FAST!”
While US box office performance generally has been in decline for the past several years, Melania’s ticket sales have been of particular interest.
In the UK, The Guardian reported that as of Monday, just one ticket had been sold for the first 3:10 pm screening at the flagship London location of Vue, a large cinema chain. (That number has since jumped to 13, according to a WIRED review of available seats.) Elsewhere online, commentators have posted screenshots of empty seating charts for various theaters.
Amazon MGM Studios did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While it seems relatively easy to find an empty screening of Melania, WIRED reporters have taken the extra step and identified two screenings in the United States—out of nearly 1,400 we reviewed—that have sold out for Friday.
To conduct our analysis, WIRED reviewed listings for 329 movie theaters located near 64 of the 100 US cities featured in a “Best US Cities to See a Movie” ranking list created by BetMGM, which has no affiliation with Amazon MGM Studios. (Due to technical issues, WIRED was unable to complete a full review of all 100 of BetMGM’s best cities to see a movie prior to publication.) From there, WIRED identified 1,398 Melania showtimes listed for those theaters on Fandango, a ticket-buying website. Of those screenings, just two were sold out: the 12:55 pm at Vero Beach’s AMC CLASSIC Indian River 24 and the 1 pm at AMC Independence Commons 20 in Missouri. On AMC’s website, it appears that both showings were offered at a 20 percent discount, which is standard for showtimes before 4 pm.
At one point on Thursday afternoon a third showtime at another Florida theater had seemingly sold out, but when WIRED rechecked the listing, it appeared that two front-row seats had become available.
During the course of WIRED’s review, showtimes for Melania at the Mann Plymouth Grand 15 theater in Minnesota appeared to have been canceled. The theater is located in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where two observers have been killed amid a massive incursion of federal immigration agents. Representatives for Mann Plymouth Grand 15 did not respond to a request for comment.
To be sure, there may be more sold-out showings across the US. WIRED only reviewed a portion of the listings on Fandango, and it’s possible that not all movie theaters sell tickets through that website. It is also possible that not all theaters offer advanced ticket seat selection. And of course, tickets can be purchased for screenings up until they’re shown.
For example, as of Thursday afternoon, it appears that no tickets have been sold for the 10:15 pm screening at the AMC Port Chester in Connecticut. It’s a 276-seat theater; take your pick.
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