Melania

Melania (2026)

Twenty days to history.

Offering unprecedented access to the 20 days leading up to the 2025 Presidential Inauguration — through the eyes of the First Lady-elect herself — step inside Melania Trump's world as she orchestrates inauguration plans, navigates the complexities of the White House transition, and reenters public life with her family. With exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments, Mrs. Trump returns to one of the world's most powerful roles.

Date of release
2026-01-30
TMDB
3.4 / 10 (192)
Runtime
1h 45m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Brett Ratner

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $40M

Melania is a 2026 American film directed and produced by Brett Ratner. It revolves around the experiences of Melania Trump, the first lady of the United States, in the 20 days before her husband Donald's second presidential inauguration. It was released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on January 30, 2026.

Production

The idea of a documentary about Melania Trump, the wife of Donald Trump, was either pitched by her to Jeff Bezos during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in 2024, or she pitched it to Marc Beckman, her senior adviser and manager, after the 2024 presidential election. She signed on as an executive producer for a documentary about her days after the election. Melania said her impetus was a warm reception to her 2024 memoir.

Amazon, Disney, Netflix, and Paramount Pictures bid for the streaming rights. Disney offered around $14 million, but lost to Amazon's bid of $40 million to license it and produce a follow-up docuseries on her. This was the highest price ever paid for a documentary. Ted Hope, who launched Amazon's film division and led it until 2020, stated that it was probably the most expensive documentary without music licensing.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Melania earned $28 million from Melania while Donald's certified annual financial disclosure report stated that she earned $10.71 million. Hope questioned how the high price for the documentary could not be seen as a bribe. The TV host Jimmy Kimmel criticized the production as a $75 million bribe.

In January 2025, Amazon MGM Studios announced that Brett Ratner would direct a documentary about Trump. Fernando Sulichin was brought on as an executive producer. Melania is Ratner's first film since numerous women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017. Ratner was the only person considered for the job. Numerous criticisms were made of Ratner's behavior on set, with cast members describing his behavior as "slimy".

Filming began in December 2024, and months of filming was done in Mar-a-Lago. Melania held editorial control over Melania and was involved in the trailer, color correction, music selection, advertising campaign, and designed the logo. Cinematographers Barry Peterson, Jeff Cronenweth, and Dante Spinotti were part of the filming crew.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended