A US movie theatre was forced to make a drastic U-turn on Melania, an Amazon Studios documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, currently playing on American screens.
“All Melania Shows Cancelled,” said one of the new marquee messages promoting the film outside the Lake Theatre & Cafe in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, Oregon, according to its official Instagram update. “Amazon Called… Our Marquee Made Them Mad,” the message added.
“Show Your Support at Whole Foods Instead. Join Amazon Prime for Free Two-Day Shipping.”
If you’re wondering what all of this is about, the simple answer is that Amazon pulled Melania Trump‘s documentary from the Oregon movie theatre in response to a joke its staffers had previously plastered outside the establishment.
Melania shows cancelled: Oregon movie theatre reacts
Sharing the picture of their new marquee message announcing that the Melania shows had been pulled from their establishment, the Oregon theatre disclosed that they had gotten a call from the higher ups at Amazon.
In their Instagram update, Lake Theater & Cafe claimed that Amazon executives were “upset” with how they had marketed the movie with their previous marquee.
“Sunday would be its last day here. Also got, before then, countless emails and voicemails and Google / Yelp reviews (Google / Yelp took them down) wondering why the hell we had Melania here, or disdaining our disparaging of her.”
“Now that it’s prematurely over, the plug pulled on us not from public outcry (always listening, thank you) but by some corporate executive (fair enough, sorry AMZN, please don’t cancel my Prime), Jordan figured he’d …say something? Link in bio. TLDR: welp.”
Melania marquee joke that got shows cancelled in Oregon
A previous marquee referring to the movie included the message, “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!” Quoting Sun Tzu, it also jokingly added, ““To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania,” as per Variety.
Theatre manager responds
The theatre’s manager Jordan Perry has since addressed the development in an official note published on their official website.
Addressing questions he claims to have received from local patrons about why the film was being shown at the theatre at all, Perry said in the blog post, “Mostly, I thought doing so would be funny.”
Asserting that the choice wasn’t backed by the need to make a political statement. “Wouldn’t it be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show “Melania” here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighborhood cinema?” Perry continued.
The manager further affirmed that he didn’t see their film programming as political and simply tried to put on movies the community would want to see. “Lake Oswego is diverse, whatever best serves you collectively best serves us (also need people to buy more than tickets, please arrive hungry / thirsty),” he quipped.
Maintaining his nonchalant tone throughout the blog post, Perry also said early on, “We contributed, in all, $196 to the Jeff Bezos Trust Fund this week (far more to the Hamnet Trust Fund, thank you, Hamnet lovers). Jeff Bezos won’t notice the $196. He wouldn’t notice $1,960, though someone on his team noticed our marquee.”
About the Melania documentary
The company had purchased the rights to produce and distribute the film for $40 million in 2025. The film, directed by Brett Ratner, revolves around the 20 days leading up to US President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in 2025.
The movie about the US first lady ended up racking the biggest opening for a documentary in a decade. Premiering last Thursday in America, it debuted to $7 million at the box office, surpassing the 2023 title After Death‘s $5 million record, Deadline reported over the weekend.
“MELANIA, the film. #1 Highest Opening In 10 Yrs (Doc) Loved By All – “A” CinemaScore,” the former lady wrote on X.
Although Amazon has yet to respond to the Oregon theatre’s fumble, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of domestic theatrical distribution, Kevin Wilson, had previously opened up about the movie’s early box office figures exceeding their expectations.
“We’re very encouraged by the strong start and positive audience response,” he told the New York Post. “This momentum is an important first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for both the film and the forthcoming docu-series, extending well beyond the theatrical window and into what we believe will be a significant run for both on our service.”
He added, “We are confident in the long-term value this rollout will deliver to customers both in theaters and for years to come on Prime Video.”