A small, independent movie theater in Oregon has reportedly been forced to cancel screenings of Melania, a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, after Amazon objected to jokes displayed on the theater’s marquee.
The Lake Theater & Café in Lake Oswego, just outside Portland, promoted the film with tongue-in-cheek marquee jokes. One marquee read, “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!” Another joked, “To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania.”
That approach did not sit well with Amazon.
According to the theater’s manager, Jordan Perry, Amazon contacted the venue directly and requested that all future screenings be removed. “The studio was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public,” Perry told The Oregonian.
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Soon after, the screenings were gone.
It swapped out the marquee for a bolder, more pointed message. “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead. Join Amazon Prime for Free Two-Day Shipping.”
Someone familiar with the movie told Variety that Melania was officially pulled from the theater. Amazon has not made any public statement about the decision.
Sharing photos of the updated marquee on Instagram, the Lake Theater & Café explained what happened next. “Got a call that the higher-ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how our marquee marketed their movie (i.e., Melania), that, per them, Sunday would be its last day here.”
The post also noted the reaction from the public. “Before then, we got countless emails and voicemails and Google / Yelp reviews (Google / Yelp took them down), wondering why the hell we had Melania here, or disdaining our disparaging of her.”
What ended the screenings, however, was not public pressure. “Now that it’s prematurely over, the plug pulled on us not from public outcry (always listening, thank you) but by some corporate executive (fair enough, sorry AMZN, please don’t cancel my Prime).”
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On the theater’s website, Perry explained that the decision to screen the film was rooted in irony. “I thought doing so would be funny,” he wrote. “Wouldn’t it be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show Melania here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighborhood cinema?”
The documentary itself has not exactly been embraced by critics. Directed by Brett Ratner, “Melania” follows Melania Trump during the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Trump has promoted the film heavily, even claiming it turns his wife into a “movie star.”
The film currently holds a 5% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, despite a 99% audience score that many see as politically motivated.
Featured image via Instagram screengrab
