I love watching a good documentary… which is why I knew I would NEVER watch Melania. The Brett Ratner-directed, Jeff Bezos-funded bit of grift-work follows the once-and-future first lady in the first 20 days of January 2025 leading up to the second inauguration of Dementia Don. I’d rather watch paint dry. I’d rather vacuum. I’d rather do my taxes! Turns out, I am not alone. While the camp behind the doc were crowing about a “better-than-expected” opening last weekend of $7 million, the numbers fell off a cliff this weekend by 67% (and after distributor Amazon MGM added 200 domestic theaters based on the first-weekend box office; smart call, Jeff). But even before the big drop off this weekend, something amazing happened during the doc’s opening last week: the viewership for Becoming, Michelle Obama’s six-year-old Netflix documentary, jumped by 13,300%!! I love protest via documentary viewership!
First lady Melania Trump’s newest self-titled documentary appears to have pushed her critics toward a former first lady’s film in protest.
Michelle Obama’s 2020 documentary, Becoming, saw a 13,300% rise in viewership over the course of Melania’s opening weekend, according to new stats shared by entertainment provider Luminate.
Obama’s post-White House documentary reached 47.5 million minutes of viewership on Netflix between Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 — when Trump’s documentary premiered in theaters — after only being streamed 354,000 minutes the weekend before.
Becoming, named for Obama’s best-selling 2018 memoir, showed a “rare and up-close look at her life” after her husband left office, according to Netflix, and brought viewers behind the scenes of her 34-city book tour.
Trump’s documentary, Melania, hit theaters globally on Friday, Jan. 30. The Brett Ratner-directed film was purchased by Amazon MGM Studios for $40 million — 70% of which may have gone directly into the first lady’s pocket, according to The Wall Street Journal — and cost an additional $35 million for marketing, which included putting the first lady’s face on the Las Vegas Sphere.
Melania earned $7.04 million in its opening weekend, outperforming pre-release box office estimates.
The box office earnings marked the biggest opening for a non-fiction film in the last decade, Deadline reported. The previous record holder was 2023’s After Death, which had a $5 million opening, per the outlet.
Opening weekend ticket holders were 70% female, and 72% were over the age of 55.
Melania centered around the 20 days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration through the eyes of the incoming first lady.
Ahead of the official release — and amid protests in Minneapolis in response to the fatal Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti — Trump, 55, hosted a private first viewing of the documentary at the White House on Jan. 24, calling the screening “a historic moment.”
“I am deeply humbled to have been surrounded by an inspiring room of friends, family, and cultural iconoclasts at the White House last night. Each of these individuals brought their unique vision to the world, making a lasting impression,” she wrote in a post on X.
“Our personal stories endure time and serve as a reminder of our mutual obligation to one another. It was an honor to present my new film, MELANIA, ahead of its global launch,” she added.
Like I said, I love this act of cinematic protest. Still, I’m a salty bitch, so I can’t stop wishing there had been a 13,300% boost in Democratic voting in November 2024! I know it doesn’t help, it’s just tough being Cassandra (as I know y’all know too). Anyway, may Melania disappear into the tyranny of options that is Amazon Prime’s homepage for selecting what to what. Meanwhile, there’s been another great wave of support for the Obamas taking shape. As you’ll recall (and if you don’t I apologize for the reminder), Herr Trump posted a vile, racist AI clip last week that put Barack & Michelle’s faces on the bodies of monkeys. There was instantaneous outrage from politicians of both parties, which prompted Trump to take the video down… 12 hours later. But Don still won’t take responsibility for the video HE posted, pawning off the blame on a junior staffer who he says should have vetted the whole thing first. GMAFB. “But Kismet, we knew all that and you promised good news?” Yes! Since then, people online have really rallied behind the Obamas and are making a point to push back against the racist administration by posting lovely REAL (as in non-AI) photos of the couple. Share love! And give hate a pitiful box office.
Photos credit: Isaac Palmisano via Netflix Press and Getty Images
I will admit I watched “Becoming” for the first time because of that post, I enjoyed it so much I watched it a second time.
The reason why the racist propaganda that Trump et al 🤬 releases to the 🌎 is because they’ve ALWAYS been ignorant trash to me! I look down on them the way the “Social Register” of New York High Society 😠 has ALWAYS viewed Trump & his Family…keeping them social pariahs to the society they ALWAYS longed for.
I expect ignorant trash😠 to act the way they act in the Executive Office in D.C….that Vanity Fair pictorial PERFECTLY illustrated what I think of those hateful unattractive…aging bad skin…cheap suit wearing Trogloydytes that are the power shakers of the Republican party😠
So seeing Michelle’s documentary FLOURISH years after it was made while Trump’s go down the toilet into the sewer where it belongs…is…
✨️💚🖤❤️✨️
He is utter trash. Trifling trash that cant take itself out soon enough for me.
It’s obvious that the Obamas live rent-free in his tiny head 24/7/365. I hope it chaps his rancid ass forever that Michelle couldn’t be bothered to have anything to do with him and goes about her life universally beloved, respected, moisturized and happy.
I’m proud to say that I was part of this protest. I re-watched Becoming, then every time I leave the house I put it on. Late at night I stream it with the sound off. The contrast between Michelle Obama and the Slovenian Hooker couldn’t be more dramatic. We were so lucky to have the Obamas in the White House.
Dear Giddy, You have come up with a couple of ideas I just love and shall follow through with. From now on, whenever I leave the house I’ll have Either Michelle or Meghan on and Before bed I shall stream with the sound off. These are brilliant ways to support and protest at the same time. Thank you!
I watched the Becoming documentary three times last weekend and only once as background. It was so beautifully done and hearing Michelle share her feelings during her journey to becoming the first Black American FLOTUS was really uplifting. They were everything we could have asked for and this country didn’t deserve them.
I read a comment about the numbers increasing on this website and watched it as well to add to the numbers 🙂
I read the book and saw her when she did her book tour, but missed the documentary. Will have to put it in my queue.
We all know that Taco Tits put that video up there himself. So it doesn’t matter if he takes responsibility for it. And if he did take responsibility, that would also likely mean apologizing. And we also all know any apology would also be bullshit. Let everyone see his ugly, horrible, hateful, nasty true face.
I was somewhat heartened by the headlines that actually said ‘racist.’ For once, there were no weasel words. Finally, the press gets it right. It’s probably just a blip, but one can hope it’s not.
Ha! Love it and love the Obamas! Also, its being reported that those Melania box office numbers may be artificially inflated as some conservative companies bought bulk tickets which were then distributed to senior citizen centers and conservative groups. You know, the same way they buy books in bulk of their facorite conservative authors/pundits and then brag about those “bestsellers”… I hope those free Melania torture tickets came with coupons for the concession stand and other free theatre tickets to more enjoyable movies.
I get why this feels good symbolically, but there’s an uncomfortable irony here. Protest via Netflix viewership still funnels money and leverage to Netflix itself, a company actively reshaping labour conditions and rights for writers and creators. American activism often gets blunted because it’s routed through consumption.