Shady Rumors About Melania Trump's Movie Ticket Sales Are Raising Eyebrows

Ticket sales in the lead-up to the opening of Melania Trump's eponymous documentary were dismal. But now that it's out, we have a better understanding of the numbers for opening weekend; the documentary, which tracks Melania in the 20 days before Trump's inauguration in 2025, made $7 million on opening weekend. And Melania's X (formerly known as Twitter) account shared an article from far-right news network Breitbart titled "'Melania' Has Already Out-Grossed Five 2025 Oscar Nominees." Clearly, her team thinks that her documentary is a hit. And it could have been that MAGA followers really pulled through for "Melania" once they heard that the ticket sales were projected to be low. However, there are some people who think that not all of those ticket sales actually represented butts in seats, even if people like Kayleigh McEnany said it was standing room only for at least one screening of "Melania."

For one, there's Tom Brueggemann, who, according to his Substack, is a "film industry veteran [and a] film buyer for theaters then writer on industry issues, particularly on box office." He has some suspicions about whether the $7 million reported was actually purchased by fans. One big red flag for him. Brueggemann said, "Industry sources say there were signs that [blocks] of tickets were purchased for the weekend, then distributed to senior citizen homes, Republican activists, [and] other interested parties for free to help boost audiences."

He did admit that there wasn't a lot of hard evidence at this point to back up. But it's certainly helping fuel rumors about how many people actually watch "Melania." And he wasn't alone in raising questions about exactly who was buying tickets for the first lady's documentary.

Progressive media company MeidasTouch Network reported that National Faith Advisory Board (NFAB), whose president is Donald Trump's spiritual advisor Paula White-Cain, was promoting group sales to see "Melania" to the NFAB email list. MeidasTouch also noted that just because a theater gets bought out for a showing of "Melania," it doesn't mean that every seat in that theater gets filled. And some people on X (formerly known as Twitter) were saying they'd seen some strange behavior around the "Melania" movie that would point to empty seats for the screenings. "I went to the local mall and MAGA Republican[s] were out there handing out free tickets and placing others on windshield wipers of all the parked cars. And the theater was still empty," one person shared via X. We know that, with social media, it can be difficult to confirm how much really happened, but the rumors are definitely out there.

Others just came with jokes about the gossip over no one actually watching "Melania." One person quipped, "I hear that soon all ticket-buyers (both of them) will receive a coupon good for a free gold-tone trump watch (made in China). It may be redeemed by sending in $500 to cover shipping & handling."

And there were those who brought up the fact that it wouldn't be the first time that someone in the Trump family got a boost for a project. The Republican National Committee bought Donald Trump Jr.'s book "Triggered" in bulk, to the tune of nearly $95,000, which may have helped make it a New York Times bestseller, according to The New York Times. "Manufactured hype is the only kind they know," one person posted on X.