Amazon Sets Nov. 20 Debut for Two-Part Melania Trump Series

By Daniel Okafor

Amazon will release "Melania, the Series," a two-part program executive produced by first lady Melania Trump, on Prime Video on Nov. 20. The company announced the debut on Friday. Brett Ratner directs, reprising his role from the feature documentary "Melania," released less than a year ago.

A news release promised the series would take "audiences beyond what they have already seen, with content never before shared with the public." It follows the first lady in the days after the 47th Presidential Inauguration. That's the pitch. The invoice, as ever, tells its own story.

What did the first film cost Amazon?

Amazon acquired "Melania," which Mrs. Trump produced, for $40 million and spent another $35 million marketing it — a sum a topical documentary was unlikely to recoup. The film collected $16 million in global ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. For comparison: the recent Elizabeth Holmes documentary, considered an extreme outlier in the genre, has grossed nearly $65 million.

The spending drew scrutiny earlier this year. Observers questioned whether Amazon, a business shaped by regulation and government contracts, was trying to ingratiate itself with President Trump. Some employees in Amazon's entertainment division were told company leadership had mandated the film's release.

An Amazon spokesman on Friday pointed to the company's January statement: "We licensed the film and series for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love them." One reason. Stated twice. The prose is doing some lifting.

A New York Times reviewer called "Melania," which follows Mrs. Trump in the weeks before her husband's January 2025 inauguration, "a glossy, curiously impersonal, outwardly apolitical portrait." The series presumably aims to adjust at least one of those adjectives.

Why does this matter for Brett Ratner?

For Ratner, the Trump alliance promised rehabilitation. Once among Hollywood's most commercially reliable directors, with the "Rush Hour" trilogy and an "X-Men" film to his credit, he faced multiple women's accusations of sexual misconduct in 2017. The accusations derailed his career. "Melania" marked his first theatrical release in more than a decade.

Rumors now circulate that Paramount and its parent, Skydance Media, want a fourth "Rush Hour" film from Ratner — reportedly at Mr. Trump's request. Hollywood forgive-and-forget cycles usually take longer than eight years. This one had help.

Representatives for Mrs. Trump and Ratner did not reply to requests for comment.

The Nov. 20 debut will test whether a second Trump-backed project can outperform the first — and whether Amazon's $75 million combined outlay on film and marketing buys anything beyond goodwill in Washington.