Melania documentary debut box office takings in UK and Ireland revealed

The feature-length profile of Melania Trump, wife of US President Donald Trump, took £32,974 at the UK and Ireland box office on its opening weekend – less than a re-release of The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King.

The authorised profile of the president’s wife, titled simply Melania, focuses on the 20 days leading up to her husband’s return to the White House in January 2025.

The Amazon MGM studios film, which is just under two hours long, documents Melania’s world as she navigates through the White House transition including moving her family back to the US capital, as she prepares to return to the role of First Lady.

The film opened at 155 cinemas, averaging £213 at each site, and ranked 29th in the highest-grossing releases from January 30 to February 1, according to data released by the British Film Institute (BFI).

Return Of The King took £215,804 across 169 cinemas and ranked 14th.

The film with the highest box office takings in the UK and Ireland last weekend was Hamnet, which grossed £1.41 million – around 42 times the figure for Melania.

Hamnet has now taken £14.84 million in the UK and Ireland over its four weeks on release.

The Melania documentary was met with less than positive reviews, including zero stars from The Guardian and was described by The Telegraph as a “branding exercise” rather than a documentary with “North Korea-style propaganda with a dash of Ralph Lauren”.

The New York Times said it was “a very circumscribed and carefully stage-managed chronicle” of the days leading up to Mr Trump’s second inauguration.

Box office data for the UK and Ireland is compiled by ComScore and made publicly available by the BFI.