How Did The Melania Documentary Fare?

Better than expected, with nearly $7M in ticket sales, after opening in 1,500 theaters in North America.

But let's look at how this played for the distributor: Amazon.

Amazon spent $35M on ads promoting the opening weekend (bulk on NFL playoffs).

An additional $40 spent on exclusive distribution rights.

Distributor gets 50% of sales on opening weekend.

Amazon spent $75M
Amazon gets $3.5M

That's a net $71.5M loss to Amazon

Melania gets $40M (distribution rights) + $20M rights to movie
Amazon loses $71.5M

You have to wonder why Bezos conducts business like this.