Melania documentary pulled from South African theaters for ‘political reasons’

Film is scheduled to release Friday worldwide

Melania, the mysterious and controversial documentary about the First Lady, has been pulled from South African theaters days before its global release.

The film — which follows Melania Trump over the 20 days leading up to her husband’s inauguration, as she prepares to transition back to the White House — is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on Friday in almost 30 countries.

That number, however, has dropped by one after the film’s South African distributor Filmfinity made the last-minute decision Wednesday to cancel its theatrical run for “political reasons,” sources told Deadline.

Meanwhile, Thobashan Govindarajulu, the head of sales and marketing for Filmfinity, told The New York Times the move was “based on recent developments” but declined to specify.

Govindarajulu insisted it “was our decision” and that the company was neither pressured nor asked to remove the film.

Melania Trump's documentary, 'Melania,' is out in theaters Friday (Muse Films)

The Independent has contacted the White House and Filmfinity for comment.

Earlier this week, Mark Sardi, the chief executive of Ster-Kinekor, one of South Africa’s major movie theater chains, said he didn’t know why Filmfinity had pulled the documentary.

“Our basic position would be we’re not in the business of censorship,” he said in an interview with the Times. “I expect the decision would have been a commercial one balanced with a whole lot of current issues.”

The removal comes amid delicate relations between the U.S. and South Africa, as Donald Trump has introduced punishing tariffs and promoted since-debunked claims that white South Africans are being “slaughtered”.

Helmed by disgraced director Brett Ratner, Melania is already facing a major uphill battle in ticket sales. Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue, one of the U.K.’s biggest movie theater operators, revealed that ticket sales, so far, have been “soft.”

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Trump has lauded his wife’s documentary as ‘incredible’ (Getty)

According to The Guardian, just one ticket has been sold for the first afternoon screening Friday at Vue’s flagship Islington branch in London, while two have been booked for the 6pm showing.

Should the film flop, as CNN’s polling analyst Harry Enten has predicted, that would bring joy to some of the film’s crew, who have reportedly requested their names be left off the credits.

“Unfortunately, if it does flop, I would really feel great about it,” one crew member told Rolling Stone.

Insiders told the outlet that the film’s set was chaotic and disorganized, with crew members often working long hours and being forced to work without meal breaks. The director was also accused of leaving trash everywhere and being dismissive of his employees.

‘Melania’ will be released in nearly 30 countries (AFP/Getty)

Other crew members said that the worst part of working on the First Lady’s Amazon MGM documentary had nothing to do with the president or the politics involved — but instead came from sharing a set with Ratner.

“I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this,” a member of the production team told Rolling Stone. “But Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project.”

Melania is out in theaters Friday.