Amazon pulls Melania from cinema after owner’s criticism as rumours mount over ‘fake ticket sales’ | Melania
An independent cinema in Oregon claimed that Amazon removed screenings of its documentary about Melania Trump in protest of the cinema’s marketing strategy.
According to the local newspaper Lake Oswego ReviewLake Theater & Cafe’s general manager said the company had “To defeat your enemy. You have to know them. Melania” and “Is Melania wearing Prada? Find out on Friday!”
Writing in the cinema instagramJordan Perry said: “I got a call that the higher ups (at Amazon, for example) were upset with our tent marketing their movies (for example, Melania), and according to them, Sunday would be their last day here.”
Perry added that he hopes Amazon won’t cancel his Prime membership and directed loyal Amazon fans to “show your support at Whole Foods instead.” The cinema owner also addressed those who criticized his decision to screen the film in the first place.
In an article titled Why Did Me, Jordan, Catch Melania Here? Perry wrote that his overriding instinct was that the programming “was going to be funny.” There was also a financial imperative, he added: “The movie market this week and next week has been a desert… So why not get this inexplicably ostentatious work from the current president’s wife to fill a screen? I mean, it seems so odd that it even exists (who wants a movie about Melania, haha) and then wouldn’t it be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show it here, in the openly anti-establishment, occasionally troublesome neighborhood movie theater?”
Amazon’s cancellation of the film from its Oregon theater comes as some in the US point to the discrepancy between healthy ticket sales and seemingly empty theaters.
The film grossed $7 million (£5.1 million) in its opening weekend domestically and opened at #3 in the US box office charts. Daily Monster reported that there were accusations of “fake ticket sales” to increase box office totals.
By quoting bottom stack The article, from industry expert Tom Brueggemann, claims: “Industry sources say there are signs that tickets were purchased en masse for the weekend, then distributed free of charge to the homes of senior citizens, Republican activists and other interested parties to help boost viewership.”
Meanwhile Puck reporter Matthew Belloni said Amazon and theater chains AMC and Regal told him they were “not experiencing unusual block purchases” of tickets for the film, but added that “of course, the theater chains may not know about this.”
Exit reports from weekend screenings in the US suggested that “older white women” were the demographic group most responsible for success.
Shooting was fairly mellow in the UK, where Melania was released on 155 screens. The film opened at number 29 in the UK charts with a weekend average of £212.
US revenue for the film currently accounts for approximately 98.8% of the overall total, with Melania’s native Slovenia proving to be the best-performing international territory.
In the UK, some industry insiders have questioned whether the film’s unusually wide release was indicative of “four walls”: the release strategy in which distributors pay cinemas to show the film.
