Jimmy Kimmel casts doubt over Melania documentary’s box office take: ‘It’s all very sus’

‘Melania’ surpassed expectations, grossing $7 million on its opening weekend

Jimmy Kimmel has suggested that the new documentary about First Lady Melania Trump benefited from artificially inflated box office figures.

Melania, directed by Brett Ratner, surpassed expectations, grossing $7 million on its opening weekend.

“Speaking of rigged outcomes, the Melania documentary,” Kimmel began his show Wednesday.

“A lot of people, myself included, have been wondering how this movie managed to sell $7 million worth of tickets last weekend when almost every theater seemed to be empty leading up to the release,” he said.

Early reports suggested that Melania was struggling to sell tickets, with theaters across the U.S. struggling to fill many seats for screenings on its first day.

Jimmy Kimmel was not convinced by ‘Melania’s’ box office take (ABC)

‘Melania’ was shot in the three weeks leading up to the second Trump inauguration (Muse Films)

Quoting from a Daily Beast article about the movie’s alleged bulk buying, Kimmel told viewers, “Sources say there were signs that blocks of tickets to Melania were purchased and then distributed to Republican activists and senior citizens’ homes, which are really the same thing,” he joked.

“Imagine those poor senior citizens,” Kimmel said. “‘Good morning, Mrs. Greenwald. Here are your heart pills and here are your liver pills. And here’s a pair of tickets to Melania.’”

“It’s all very sus, as the kids like to say,” Kimmel continued.

The host pointed out the disparity between the critics’ scores and the audience’s scores on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

“As of tonight, Melania has a score of five percent on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. That is very low,” Kimmel said.

“To put that in perspective, that is one percent lower than Gigli,” Kimmel said, referencing the infamous 2003 Ben Affleck flop.

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Meanwhile, Kimmel noted, “The audience score for Melania is 99 percent positive, which is one percent higher than The Godfather. And I’m sure Donald J. Corleone had nothing to do with that at all.”

“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Kimmel added.

“Send in Tulsi Gabbard and the FBI! Seize the ticket machines, the popcorn buckets, the box office receipts, at every multiplex in America!”

The Independent has contacted the First Lady’s office for comment.

Although the film has performed better than expected, it is still unlikely to recoup the $40 million Amazon MGM paid for it. Amazon reportedly spent an additional $35 million to market the film.

Nick Hilton argued in his one-star review for The Independent that the “First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda.”

Speaking to reporters at the film’s premiere at the Kennedy Center last week, President Donald Trump played down reports of weak ticket sales for the film.

“It’s a very tough business in theaters selling movie tickets after Covid,” he said.

“I think this will do unbelievable — streaming and everything. Theaters are a different world.”

Melania will stream on Prime Video at a later date.