Melania Trump’s documentary has been pulled from all theaters in South Africa just days before its scheduled release.
The film’s local distributor, Filmfinity, announced on Wednesday that it would no longer release Melania on Friday due to “recent developments,” The New York Times reports.
“Based on recent developments, we’ve taken the decision to not go ahead with a theatrical release in territory,” Thobashan Govindarajulu, Filmfinity’s Head of Sales and Marketing, said.
Amazon MGM Studios
While Govindarajulu declined to share what specific recent developments led to the film getting pulled, he noted that Filmfinity wasn’t pressured or asked to cancel its theatrical run. “That was our decision,” he added.
The move comes amid ongoing tension between South Africa and Donald Trump, propelled by rising tariffs and the president’s widely debunked claims that a white genocide is being committed in South Africa.
Representatives for Filmfinity and Amazon MGM Studios did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment.
Mark Sardi, the chief executive officer of South Africa movie chain Ster-Kinekor, told The New York Times that he didn’t know why Filmfinity had pulled Melania, given that it had complied with all local regulations.
“Our basic position would be we’re not in the business of censorship,” he told the outlet. “I expect the decision would have been a commercial one balanced with a whole lot of current issues.”
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Melania gives an inside look at the first lady’s life in the 20 days leading up to her husband 2024 re-election. The film was directed by Brett Ratner, marking his first film since being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017. He has denied the accusations.
This is the latest setback for the documentary, which is projected to earn somewhere between $2 and $5 million dollars in its opening weekend. That number, however, pales in comparison to the roughly $75 million that billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Amazon MGM Studios spent acquiring the doc and on its subsequent marketing and promotions.
Speaking with EW, Daniel Loria, senior vice president and editorial director at BoxOfficePro, explained that he believes it’s a “reach” that Melania will achieve a $5 million debut, noting that “these sort of public-figure documentaries usually get bought and produced for streaming.” He added, “That’s the real value for these things.”
Still, the president has shown his support for his wife’s film, calling it a “MUST WATCH” and claiming that tickets are “selling out, FAST!”
However, The Late Show host Stephen Colbert appeared to debunk the president’s claims in his opening monologue on Tuesday, revealing that “zero tickets” had been sold for two Saturday evening screenings of the film in Times Square. “Now, usually, to see Trump bomb this hard, you’d have to be on a Venezuelan fishing boat,” Colbert quipped.
Melania opens Friday.
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