The documentary Melania, which explores the life of United States First Lady, Melania Trump, is outperforming box office projections, with Sunday estimates indicating an opening weekend gross of $7.04 million.

It ranks third for the weekend, trailing the Sam Raimi thriller Send Help ($20 million) and Iron Lung ($17.8 million), a video game adaptation from YouTuber Mark Fischbach, also known as Markiplier.

Amazon reportedly paid $40 million to acquire Melania and is spending an additional $35 million on promotion.

While the documentary is surpassing pre-release expectations of a $3–5 million opening weekend, it is still unlikely to turn a profit in theaters.

Amazon’s bid exceeded Disney’s by $26 million, prompting critics to suggest the acquisition was motivated more by a desire to curry favour with the Trump administration than by the film’s box office prospects.

Veteran film executive Ted Hope, who worked at Amazon from 2015 to 2020, told The New York Times that Melania “has to be the most expensive documentary ever made that didn’t involve music licensing.”

“How can it not be equated with currying favour or an outright bribe?” Hope said. “How can that not be the case?”

Apple CEO Tim Cook attended a preview screening of Melania at the White House last weekend, but the documentary was not shown to critics ahead of its release. Since then, reviews have been scathing.

The film currently holds a seven per cent score on Metacritic, signaling “overwhelming dislike,” and just 10 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Amazon MGM’s domestic distribution head, Kevin Wilson, said the opening weekend is just the beginning for the film and the upcoming docu-series.

He explained that they expect both to continue performing well over time, especially on Amazon Prime’s streaming platform.