Amazon pulled the documentary Melania from a small Oregon movie theater after the theater put jokes about the film on its marquee.
The Lake Theater and Cafe in Lake Oswego had been advertising the movie with cheeky lines such as “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday” and a quote from The Art of War, “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. Melania starts Friday.”
The theaterβs manager, Jordan Perry, says someone from Amazon called and asked the theater to stop showing the film. “The studio was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public,” Perry told The Oregonian.
After the call, the marquee was changed to a blunt message. “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead.” That was followed by a cheeky plug, “Join Amazon Prime for Free Two Day Shipping.”
Perry told local reporters he booked the film partly because he thought it would be funny in a left leaning town and partly because new releases were scarce that week. He said the theater sold just $196 worth of tickets across the weekend it screened the film.
The decision to pull the film came as Melania was drawing wide attention nationwide. The documentary, directed by Brett Ratner and released by Amazon MGM, has had strong national box office numbers even as critics gave it poor reviews. That contrast has drawn extra scrutiny from theater owners, reporters and viewers.
Locals did not all love the theaterβs stunt. Perry said the Lake Theater got “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.” The theater posted that line on Instagram as part of its response to the backlash.
Perry defended his choice as a small town joke and a practical pick for a quiet week. “Mostly, I thought doing so would be funny,” he wrote in a message the theater shared online, and later added a rhetorical question that underlined the tone: “Wouldn’t it be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show [Melania] here, at your obviously anti establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighborhood cinema?”
The studioβs move to revoke the screening rights surprised some movie fans and pleased others. For the theater, it was a small financial hit and a public moment that went viral. For Amazon, it was a decision to protect how its film was presented.
The row also fed a larger conversation about how political films are marketed and how studios handle local promotions. Industry reporters note the filmβs sales pattern and the way some theaters have handled screenings are part of a bigger, odd story about how certain films reach their audiences.
Features image via Instagram screengrab
