Jimmy Kimmel says Melania Trump documentary is a “$75 million bribe” from Amazon
Jimmy Kimmel has poked fun at the new Amazon MGM Studios documentary on Melania Trump, which he has described as a “$75 million bribe”.
The film, which documents her journey as she prepared to return to the White House for her second term as First Lady, is set to arrive in cinemas globally on January 30th, 2026.
It is set for a wide global roll-out, including being shown in 100 cinemas across the United Kingdom. Earlier this week, Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue Cinemas, admitted that sales had been “soft” for Melania.
According to The Guardian, as of January 26th, zero tickets had been sold for the 28 screenings of Melania at the branches of Vue in Blackburn, Castleford and Hamilton.
The film reportedly cost $40 million to make and has a marketing budget of $35 million, according to CNN, which Kimmel ridiculed in his latest monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Kimmel told viewers, “According to the writer Michael Wolff, Melania is bigly upset that the murders in Minneapolis are overshadowing the release of the $75 million bribe — I mean, ‘documentary’ — that Amazon made for her.”
His scathing takedown of the self-promotion project continued, “Alex Pretti was killed on Saturday, the same day they had a VIP screening of the movie at the White House. Now, when she’s promoting her film she has to answer questions about it.”
Kimmel also responded to Donald Trump, describing it as “must watch”, stating, “For him, it is a must watch, not for us.”
The comic joked, “My guess is he saw the first eight minutes and fell asleep in his popcorn bucket… Her son and her husband liked it. All the people in the movie are giving it rave reviews — that’s enough for me.”
Following the premiere at the White House, on the day that Pretti was killed by an ICE official, the president shared an image of him alongside his wife and urged people to buy a ticket for Melania before it sells out at the box office.
He captioned the post, “MELANIA, the Movie, is a MUST WATCH. Get your tickets today — Selling out, FAST!”
Melania is directed by Brett Ratner, who was blacklisted from Hollywood following a string of sexual assault allegations. Ratner is also set to return to the Rush Hour franchise for a fourth movie, which would mark his return to mainstream cinema. The film was reportedly greenlit following an alleged intervention from Trump.
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