Jimmy Kimmel addressed the box office performance of the Melania documentary during a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. The late-night host questioned the film’s reported opening weekend earnings and suggested the numbers warranted closer scrutiny.
Jimmy Kimmel calls out Melania documentary
Jimmy Kimmel questioned the legitimacy of Melania’s box office numbers. Brett Ratner directed the documentary about First Lady Melania Trump. In his Jimmy Kimmel Live monologue, Kimmel said the film earned $7 million in its opening weekend, far above the $1–2 million projections.
He said, “A lot of people, myself included, have been wondering how this movie managed to sell $7 million worth of tickets last weekend when almost every theater seemed to be empty leading up to the release.”
Kimmel referenced reports that alleged bulk ticket purchases and free distributions helped inflate the film’s numbers. “There are reports now suggesting that those beautiful box office numbers may have been boosted by bulk ticket purchases that were handed out to people for free,” Kimmel said. He added, “Sources say there were signs that blocks of tickets to Melania were purchased and then distributed to Republican activists and senior citizens’ homes — which are really the same thing.”
Kimmel drew comparisons to past events involving Donald Trump Jr., citing a 2019 report that the Republican National Committee spent $94,800 on his book Triggered to influence best-seller lists. “Don Jr.’s book debuted No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list despite the fact that no one has ever read it,” Kimmel remarked.
He also commented on the discrepancy between the film’s audience and critic reception. “As of tonight, Melania has a score of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. That is very low,” he said. “The audience score for Melania is 99% positive. Which is 1% higher than The Godfather. And I’m sure Donald J. Corleone had nothing to do with that at all.”
Kimmel concluded, “We need to get to the bottom of this. Send in Tulsi Gabbard and the FBI.”
