‘Melania’ lands single-digit Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic scores as Amazon deal draws scrutiny

A documentary called “Melania” about First Lady Melania Trump was released in 2026. This film may become one of the most bizarre movie stories of the year. Amazon bought the movie for $40 million and spent another $35 million on marketing, which shocked many people. Now that the movie is live, critics and audiences strongly disagree on how good it is.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has only 6% from critics, meaning almost all critics disliked it. This means only one critic liked the film, according to the score breakdown. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 6 out of 100, which is extremely low, as reported by Forbes. Metacritic uses actual review scores, not just yes-or-no opinions. User ratings on Metacritic are also very poor at 1.2 out of 10. But on Rotten Tomatoes, user scores are the opposite at 98% positive.

Critics vs audience scores

This huge gap between critics and audiences has confused many people. Forbes questions whether these audience scores are real or trustworthy. One theory is that people who choose to watch a Melania Trump movie are already likely to like her. However, some audience reviews sound overly emotional and promotional, raising suspicion. One review praised Melania as a “wonderful human” and said the theater erupted in applause.

Box office opening numbers

That review also called the film a “must see” and praised America for having her as First Lady again. Another long review described the film as calm, thoughtful, and emotionally meaningful. That review said it increased the viewer’s respect for Melania and encouraged self-reflection, as stated by Forbes.

Early box office estimates predict the movie will earn $2 to $5 million in its opening weekend. This performance would be much weaker than other films like Get Help and Iron Lung. Even with low box office numbers, the biggest concern remains Amazon’s $40 million purchase price. That large payment has raised eyebrows since the deal was first announced.

The entire project has felt strange from the beginning. Now that the film is released, critics are clearly unimpressed. Audiences appear to love it, but Forbes says it’s hard to know what’s really happening. The documentary remains controversial due to money, reviews, and unclear public reaction.

FAQs

Q1. Why is the Melania documentary getting mixed reviews?

The film has very low critic scores but very high audience scores, which has raised questions about viewer reactions.

Q2. How much did Amazon pay for the Melania documentary?

Amazon paid around $40 million to buy the film and spent millions more on promotion.