Oregon theater marquee makes joke about ‘Melania’ movie, and manager says Amazon pulled movie
The new documentary film “Melania” was released by Amazon MGM Studios in 1,778 theaters nationwide. Make that 1,777 now.
The manager of the Lake Theater & Cafe in Lake Oswego, Ore., just outside of Portland, said a marquee he prepared for a screening of a film about First Lady Melania Trump managed to upset Amazon so much that the company pulled the film.
“To defeat your enemy, you must know him. Melania starts Friday,” the banner read, as seen in a photo accompanying the Oregonian story.
In an Instagram post Monday, Lake Theater & Cafe said “top people” at Amazon were upset by the marketing move and that Sunday was the last show of “Melania” at the theater. The new tent said Amazon “went crazy” and all “Melania” shows have been canceled, and that shoppers can show their support instead at a nearby Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market.
GeekWire has reached out to Amazon for comment, and we’ll update when we hear back.
Marquee messages are clearly a joke at the Lake Theatre. On the theater website’s about page, there are many voicemails from passersby responding to past messages. The page also has a picture of a tent that reads, “I can’t get a Taylor Swift movie because her music is so bad.”
In a blog post, host Jordan Perry explained why the theater booked a two-week run of “Melania,” the reaction from both sides of the political spectrum, and how much money Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made.
“To fill the screen, why not get this inexplicable piece of nonsense from the current president’s wife?” Perry wrote. “I mean, it seems weird that it exists (who wants a movie about Melania lol?), and wouldn’t it be extremely weird, to the point of comedy, to show it here, in your anti-establishment, occasionally trouble-making, local movie theater?”
Perry said he’s not interested in trying to get people to vote one way or the other. He said he is very interested in helping people become “open-minded, compassionate, and well-informed.” He added that for every $11 ticket sold, $5.50 goes to Amazon MGM Studios.
“We contributed, in total, $196 to the Jeff Bezos Trust Fund this week (a lot more to the ‘Hamnet’ Trust Fund, thank you, ‘Hamnet’ lovers),” Perry said.
“Melania” pulled in more than that with a weekend box office total of $7 million — the biggest opening for a non-concert documentary in 14 years, according to the New York Times. The film finished third over the weekend behind horror thriller “Send for Help” ($20 million) and horror sci-fi mashup “Iron Lung” ($18 million).
Amazon spent $75 million to acquire the rights and market the film, which was directed by Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”) and offers an inside look at the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration.
Movie retreats aren’t limited to small theaters in Oregon. Critics blasted the film as propaganda in early reviews. Bus stop ads and billboards in Los Angeles are criminalized. And Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Apple CEO Tim Cook were among those who took heat for attending a White House screening of the film on the same day protester Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis by federal agents.
Watch the “Melania” trailer below:
