Amazon Pulls ‘Melania’ From Portland-Area Theater for Mocking It on the Marquee
The Lake Theater & Café in Lake Oswego, Oregon had their screenings of “Melania” pulled by Amazon after making jokes about it on their marquee.
The theaters cracked a number of jokes about the new Brett Ratner documentary about the First Lady on the marquee above the theater. They ranged from “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!” to “To defeat your enemy. You must know them.” Amazon got wind of the jokes and pulled the documentary from the theater days later.
“Got a call that the higher-ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how our marquee marketed their movie (i.e., ‘Melania’), that, per them, Sunday would be its last day here,” representatives for the theater posted on Instagram. “Also got, before then, countless emails and voicemails and Google / Yelp reviews (Google / Yelp took them down) wondering why the hell we had Melania here, or disdaining our disparaging of her.”
Amazon shelled out $40 million to produce and distribute – with an additional $35 million added on for marketing – the documentary chronicling 20 days in Melania Trump’s life in the lead-up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. It surprised with a $7 million opening weekend.
The Lake Theater & Café manager Jordan Perry told The Oregonian he got a call from Amazon after the marquee went up asking that they pull the movie from their theater.
“The studio was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public,” he said.
The theater later broke the news about the marquee landing them in hot water with Amazon on that very same marquee.
“Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All ‘Melania’ showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead. Join Amazon Prime for Free Two-Day Shipping,” the snarky message read.
The “Melania” release has had other unexpected effects in the documentary space. To counteract the film on the current First Lady, a documentary on a former first lady has been enjoying a viewing boost. According to data from Luminate, “Becoming” – the Netflix documentary on Michelle Obama – skyrocketed 13,000 viewership hours over the weekend.
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