Nicole Sperling and Brooks Barnes, reporting for The New York Times:
Amazon paid Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the
rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest
bidder, Disney. The fee includes a related docuseries that is
scheduled to air later this year. The budget for “Melania” is
unknown, but documentaries that follow a subject for a limited
amount of time usually cost less than $5 million to produce. The
$35 million for marketing is 10 times what some other high-profile
documentaries have received.All of which has a lot of Hollywood questioning whether Amazon’s
push is anything more than the company’s attempt to ingratiate
itself with President Trump.
This is a good story, with multiple industry sources with experience making political documentaries, but the Times’s own subhead downplays Amazon’s spending on the film: “The tech giant is spending $35 million to promote its film about the first lady, far more than is typical for documentaries.” They’re spending $35 million now, to promote it, but they already paid $40 million for the rights to the film, $28 million of which is believed to have gone to Melania Trump herself. A $35 million total spend would be a lot compared to other high-profile documentaries, but it’s a $75 million total spend. This is not just a little fishy — it’s a veritable open air seafood market.
Back to the Times:
To grasp just how uncustomary Amazon’s marketing push for
“Melania” is, consider how Magnolia Pictures handled “RBG,”
a portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her 25th year as a
Supreme Court justice, in 2018.CNN Films produced “RBG” for around $1 million. The promotional
budget, including an awards campaign that helped it land two Oscar
nominations, totaled about $3 million. The film debuted in 34
theaters and expanded into 432 locations over several weeks. It
ultimately collected $14 million, enough to rank as the year’s No.
1 political documentary.
And:
On Friday, “Melania” will also be released in 1,600 theaters
overseas, where FilmNation, a New York company, is handling
distribution in more than 20 countries. International ticket sales
are expected to be weak, according to box office analysts.
Shocker.
