"Melania," a documentary following U.S. first lady Melania Trump during the 20 days leading up to the start of the second Trump Administration, premiered in cinemas worldwide in late January 2026. Ahead of the premiere, President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: "MELANIA, the Movie, is a MUST WATCH. Get your tickets today — Selling out, FAST!"
Despite the president's optimism, a claim (archived) circulated online that "Melania" sold only one ticket to its premiere in England despite a $35 million marketing budget. One X user wrote:
I'M LAUGHING SO LOUD I SCARED MY DOG AND I ALMOST P***ED MY PANTS. THEY SPENT OVER 35 MILLION DOLLARS ON MARKETING THE MELANIA TRUMP MOVIE IN ENGLAND AND IT RESULTED IN ONE TICKET SOLD. ONE F***ING TICKET
The claim also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers searched our site seeking more information about the claim.
The worldwide cinema premiere for "Melania" was Jan. 30, 2026. At the time of this writing, listings for Vue, Cineworld and Odeon cinemas in London, Birmingham and Manchester, the three most-populous cities in England, showed that Vue in Islington in London and Cineworld in Birmingham NEC had sold 24 and four tickets respectively to their "Melania" premieres. Odeon in Manchester had not sold tickets to its premiere at the time of this writing.
Although "Melania" had sold multiple tickets in England based on the listings we viewed at the time of this writing, the claim appeared to originate from users inaccurately sharing reputable news reporting about a single theater's ticket sales several days earlier. Because of this, we've left this claim unrated.
We reached out to Amazon MGM to ask about its reported $35 million marketing budget for "Melania" and whether that covered just England or accounted for its entire marketing budget and await a reply.
Diving into ticket sales
The claim appeared to have come from reporting (archived) by the British newspaper The Guardian, which reported on Jan. 26, four days before the premiere, that the Vue in Islington, London, had sold one ticket for its 3:10 p.m. Jan. 30 premiere.
Though that may have been true at the time of the Guardian's reporting, that premiere had sold 24 of 25 seats by 2:05 p.m. local time on Jan. 30.
(Vue International)
Both The Guardian and The Telegraph reported on Jan. 26 that Vue in Islington had sold two tickets to the 6 p.m. showing on Jan. 30. That showing had sold 23 out of 25 available seats by 4:30 p.m. Jan. 30.
(Vue International)
Speaking to The Telegraph, Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue, reportedly said interest in "Melania" had been "weak" and described ticket sales as "soft." The Telegraph reported: "Richards said the biggest impact so far had been in prompting emails from customers complaining about the decision to show the film."
It was unclear at the time of this writing whether the British Film Institute, which releases box-office figures for the U.K., would include "Melania" in its weekly report that ordinarily contained the top 15 films released in the U.K., British releases and a selection of international films. An anonymous film industry analyst reportedly told The Guardian they did not expect the movie to be included in box office figures.
In the U.S., Boxoffice Pro, the official magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners, reported "Melania" was "tracking for an opening weekend between $2 to $5 million."
According to news reports, Amazon MGM Studios bought the rights to "Melania" for $40 million.