Amazon pulled the Melania documentary from an Oregon movie theater after the venue’s marquee displayed jokes about the film, including the line, “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!,” according to reports.
The Lake Theater and Cafe in Lake Oswego said Amazon executives were angered by the promotional messages, which also included the phrase, “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. Melania starts Friday,” a reference to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Variety reported.
Amazon has pulled the Melania documentary from Lake Theater and Cafe in Lake Oswego after the theater’s marquee poked fun at the film.
In a statement on Instagram, the theater wrote, “Got a call that the higher ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how our marquee marketed their movie (i.e., Melania), that, per them, Sunday would be its last day here.”
Amazon MGM Studios acquired the rights to produce and distribute the documentary, directed by Brett Ratner, for $40 million in 2025.
The theater’s manager, Jordan Perry, told The Oregonian that Amazon contacted the theater to pull the film due to the cheeky marquee. “The studio was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public,” he said.
Perry added that he wasn’t entirely disappointed by the decision. The Instagram statement noted the theater received “countless emails and voicemails and Google/Yelp reviews (Google/Yelp took them down), wondering why the hell we had Melania here, or disdaining our disparaging of her.”
The marquee was later updated to read, “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings canceled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead. Join Amazon Prime for Free Two-Day Shipping,” referencing Amazon’s ownership of Whole Foods, according to social media photos.
The marquee was later updated to read: “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings canceled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead.”
In a blog post, manager Jordan Perry explained that the decision to screen Melania was meant to “be funny” during a slow movie week.
“So, to fill a screen, why not get this inexplicable vanity piece from the current president’s wife?” Perry wrote.
He added, “Wouldn’t it be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show Melania here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighborhood cinema?”
Amazon MGM Studios purchased the rights to produce and distribute Melania, directed by Brett Ratner, for $40 million in 2025.
The documentary opened last week on nearly 1,800 screens nationwide, marking the strongest box office debut for a documentary in a decade. The film chronicles the 20 days leading up to First Lady Melania Trump’s return to the White House for President Trump’s second term.
Amazon did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
In a blog post, Lake Theater manager Jordan Perry broke down the theater’s small contribution to the streaming giant. “If you came to see Melania here and bought an $11 ticket, $5.50 of that would go to Amazon,” he wrote.
“We contributed, in all, $196 to the Jeff Bezos Trust Fund this week (far more to the Hamnet Trust Fund, thank you, Hamnet lovers). Jeff Bezos won’t notice the $196. He wouldn’t notice $1,960, though someone on his team noticed our marquee,” Perry added.
