Michelle Obama’s 2020 Netflix documentary Becoming experienced a dramatic resurgence in viewership over the same weekend that Melania, a new documentary centered on former first lady Melania Trump, debuted in US cinemas.
According to figures cited by The Hollywood Reporter, Becoming saw its viewership jump by more than 13,000 percent over the past weekend, with audiences watching 47.5 million minutes of the film. Just one weekend earlier, the documentary had drawn only 354,000 minutes of viewing time, based on data from analytics firm Luminate. The spike coincided with renewed public attention on first ladies as Melania arrived in theaters nationwide.
Melania, produced by Amazon at a reported cost of $40 million with an additional $35 million spent on marketing, earned $7 million in its opening weekend at the US box office. That figure marks the strongest debut for a documentary in more than a decade. However, the film’s critical and international reception has been far less enthusiastic.
The Guardian’s film critic Xan Brooks delivered a zero-star review, calling the film “a gilded trash remake of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest.” Overseas, the documentary has struggled to gain traction, opening at number 29 at the UK box office and number 31 in Australia. On Rotten Tomatoes, Melania currently holds a rating of 5 percent, a stark contrast to Becoming’s 93 percent score.
Audience data indicates that Melania’s US viewers were overwhelmingly white women over the age of 55, suggesting a narrow demographic reach despite the film’s heavy promotional push.
The documentary has also drawn attention due to its director, Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017. This week, Ratner publicly responded after appearing in a photograph with Jeffrey Epstein included in newly released documents. “I didn’t have a personal relationship with him,” Ratner said. “I didn’t know him … You get thrown into these things. It’s crazy. It’s horrible.”
On Wednesday, Melania Trump met with freed Israeli-American hostages at the White House, where she referenced the documentary while speaking to reporters. She described a January 2025 meeting with Aviva Siegel, whose husband Keith was being held hostage at the time. “It was captured on camera and available to see in my new film Melania,” she said, adding that the moment was “very emotional.” She later insisted her remarks were “not a promotion.”
