Amazon’s $75 million close-up on the First Lady made back less than a quarter of its budget, but it was enough for Ratner to plan a docuseries follow-up.

Brett Ratner threatens more Melania months after documentary’s release

Amazon’s $75 million close-up on the First Lady made back less than a quarter of its budget, but it was enough for Ratner to plan a docuseries follow-up.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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August 18, 2026 9:54 p.m. ET

Melania Trump in ‘Melania’. Credit:

Amazon MGM Studios

- Brett Ratner has announced a docuseries follow-up to his documentary *Melania*.

- Amazon paid $75 million for his documentary on First Lady Melania Trump, which premiered in January.

- The film earned back just $16.3 million after a five-week run in theaters, making it the highest grossing documentary of 2026 thus far.

That classic, cutthroat Hollywood logic: Lose $60 million, immediately score the sequel green light.

*X-Men *and *Rush Hour *director Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017, took to Instagram over the weekend to announce that his latest project is officially getting a second act.

“I’m explaining to [Donald Trump] that even I can’t take credit for making *Melania* look that good! Here we go again…. The saga continues,” he wrote, over a picture of himself whispering in the president’s ear at a formal function. “Can’t wait to share with everyone around the world the next two chapters of *Melania: The Docuseries*.”

That’s right, Ratner’s Melania Trump documentary is getting the franchise treatment.

While the documentary presents a relatively tame look at the First Lady, who married the former *Apprentice *host in 2025, *Melania *caused quite a stir throughout its development and release earlier this year.

Simply put, *Melania *cost Amazon $60 million. The multinational conglomerate’s entertainment arm, Amazon MGM Studios, paid $40 million to license the film, and an estimated $35 million on marketing and promotion. When all was said and done, *Melania *earned back $16.3 million after a five-week run in theaters.

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That deficit looks dire, but there is some logic to the decision. *Melania *is the highest-grossing documentary released in 2026 thus far by a wide margin. $16 million is an unheard-of sum for most non-fiction features that land a distributor bold enough to even attempt a theatrical release.

Amazon top dog Jeff Bezos made that argument himself back in May, noting that the film “did very well in theaters” and has “done very well on streaming,” making it a “very wise business decision.”

But critics of the film don’t see *Melania*’s shortfall as a failure, but a design feature of a much darker deal.

Brett Ratner and Melania Trump in New York City in 2011.

Jim Spellman/WireImage

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Jimmy Kimmel referred to the deal as a “$75 million bribe” that Amazon paid to curry favor with the Trump administration. Massachusetts senator and financial watchdog Elizabeth Warren said the same, accusing Amazon of “bribery in plain sight,” even suggesting that the amount paid “raises questions about Amazon’s exposure under federal anti-bribery law.”

At the time of *Melania*’s release, a representative for Amazon told EW that advertising and user signups to Amazon Prime would go even further toward recouping that $75 million spend, and the initial licensing deal did factor in future developments. Those developments are officially in the works, according to Ratner, though no release date has been set.

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Source: “EW Documentary”