Most Screenings of Melania Documentary Still Have Plenty of Available Tickets, Only 2 Sold Out Across Nearly 1,400 Checked: WIRED Analysis
This Friday marks the wide general release of Melania, a new documentary focused on Melania Trump, former U.S. first lady and third wife of ex-president Donald Trump. A new data analysis from WIRED confirms that advance tickets remain widely available across nearly all U.S. cinemas, with only two rare exceptions: the AMC Classic Indian River 24 in Vero Beach, Florida, and the AMC Independence Commons 20 in Independence, Missouri.
The film is produced by Amazon MGM Studios and directed by Brett Ratner, a filmmaker best known for his hit Rush Hour franchise (a new sequel to the series is currently in development at Donald Trump’s request). Ratner has also faced public sexual misconduct allegations from six separate women, all of which he has denied in previous statements. He did not issue an immediate response to WIRED’s request for comment for this story.
Early promotional material for the documentary leans heavily into stylized imagery of the former first lady. The official trailer mostly shows Melania moving through lavish, opulent rooms while wearing sunglasses, with repeated close-up shots of her high-heeled feet stepping across a range of surfaces: area rugs, hardwood floors, sidewalks, staircases, and more. Her iconic wide-brimmed boater hat—famous for obscuring her eyes from view—also makes a prominent appearance.
Both Donald Trump and Melania’s production team have spent heavily to promote the film’s release. Industry reports indicate Amazon paid $40 million to acquire the rights to the documentary, plus an additional $35 million for global marketing campaigns. The White House hosted an exclusive advance screening for a group of top corporate CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook and AMD’s Lisa Su. Trump has also personally touted the film on his social platform Truth Social, posting, “Get your tickets today – Selling out, FAST!”
While overall U.S. box office performance has trended downward for several years, Melania’s advance ticket sales have drawn unusual public and media attention.
In the United Kingdom, The Guardian reported earlier this week that as of Monday, only one single ticket had been sold for the opening 3:10 pm screening of Melania at the flagship London location of major cinema chain Vue. A WIRED review of current available seating for that showing puts the total number of sold tickets at 13 as of this report. Elsewhere online, commentators have shared dozens of screenshots showing nearly entirely empty seating maps for Melania screenings at cinemas across the globe.
Amazon MGM Studios did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Though empty screenings are easy to find across the U.S., WIRED reporters conducted a systematic review of advance ticketing to confirm the trend. Out of nearly 1,400 release-day screenings reviewed, only two were marked completely sold out.
To conduct the analysis, WIRED pulled ticketing listings from 329 cinemas located near 64 of the 100 U.S. cities included in BetMGM’s “Best US Cities to See a Movie” public ranking. BetMGM has no affiliation with Amazon MGM Studios, and WIRED was unable to complete checks for all 100 ranked cities ahead of publication due to technical issues. In total, the team identified 1,398 Melania showtimes listed for release day on major ticketing platform Fandango. Just two of those were 100% sold out: the 12:55 pm showing at Vero Beach’s AMC CLASSIC Indian River 24, and the 1 pm showing at Missouri’s AMC Independence Commons 20. Per AMC’s website, both screenings were offered a standard 20% matinee discount, which applies to all showtimes starting before 4 pm.
At one point on Thursday afternoon, a third screening at another Florida cinema appeared to be sold out, but a follow-up check by WIRED found two front-row seats had become available for advance purchase.
During the review process, all Melania showtimes at the Mann Plymouth Grand 15 theater in Minnesota were found to have been canceled. The theater is located in Hennepin County, where two bystanders were killed amid a large-scale incursion by federal immigration agents. Representatives for Mann Plymouth Grand 15 did not respond to requests for comment.
It is worth noting that WIRED’s analysis may not capture every sold-out screening across the U.S. The review only included a subset of showtimes listed on Fandango, and many cinemas do not sell advance tickets through the platform. Some also do not offer assigned advance seat selection, and many moviegoers purchase tickets on the day of showings directly at the box office.
For a clear example of the current ticketing trend, as of Thursday afternoon, zero advance tickets had been sold for the 10:15 pm release-day screening of Melania at AMC Port Chester in New York. The 276-seat auditorium still has every seat available for purchase.
Update 1/30/26, 9:21 am ET: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated AMC Port Chester is located in Connecticut. The theater is in New York, just next to the Connecticut state border. As of this update, all seats for the 10:15 pm Friday, January 30 screening of Melania remain available.
