Melania Trump’s self-titled documentary has viewers picking sides between “Melania” and Michelle Obama’s “Becoming.” (Photos by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
By Angelina
The vanity project, if you will, was Melania’s story of becoming a two-time first lady and cost the Jeff Bezos-founded company a reported $40 million to purchase its rights. The film was released on Jan. 30 and is expected to become available on Prime when the theatrical run concludes.
As one Trump critic put it, “Once again she just copied Michelle Obama’s documentary BECOMING! The lady can’t be original if she tried. First, she plagiarized Michelle Obama’s speech, then she wears a Flag dress like Michelle Obama, then she makes a documentary w/ one word Melania like Michelle Obama BECOMING.”
Reports of low ticket sales, limited international screens, and a widespread social media boycott encouraging people, predominantly white and Black women, to stream Michelle‘s documentary on Netflix derailed Melania’s big opening weekend.
Michelle unveiled an intimate look at her life in 2020. The footage, which followed the Chicago native along the 2018 book tour for her “Becoming” memoir, ranked No. 6 on Netflix two days before “Melania” landed on the big screen.
Yet there are some similarities between the film’s poster and Michelle’s “Becoming” poster, which feature both ladies in left-profile views. Melania is seen sitting in a chair in a black pantsuit, looking over her left shoulder, against a white background, whereas Michelle’s documentary cover shows her left profile, complete with the faces of citizens she has interacted with or spoken to.
However, excitement over the “Melania” boycott was interrupted when several streaming customers realized the film was incorrectly categorized as kids’ content.
“Internal error” or not, fans were furious and quickly assumed the mishap was a blatant tactic to limit views. “They’re big mad this documentary was way more successful than the chopped accent Melanoma movie NOBODY and I mean NOBODYYYYYY asked for a movie about [her],” scoffed one person.
The outage evolved into threats to abandon the streamer, too. An X user tweeted, “@netflix So apparently, you want the #Target treatment. You may want to put Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ back where it belongs, ASAP, instead of the Kids’ section. Do not play in black people’s faces like that. It never ends well economically. Loss of revenue is not a good look.”
At least one person turned their focus to Trump’s presidential power and his investment portfolio for a clue as to what happened.
On IG Threads, one user mentioned, “Nearly two months ago, Trump bought Netflix bonds. Days ago, Michelle Obama’s Becoming was moved to the kids’ section. This kind of childish behavior fits Trump’s long pattern when he starts losing.”
More than 10,000 liked the post, agreeing that “Becoming” surging back into trending territory “got the magas in a tizzy!” Another user disappointedly commented, “I thought Netflix did not succumb to Piggy’s threats, but obviously money is the factor that worked for them. Disgusted.”
“Melania” finished in the No. 3 spot opening weekend, raking in $7 million across 1,778 theaters. Trump boasted, “She’s had tremendous success… What do I get out of it? Nothing out of it. I had a top model, now I have a top movie star,” between signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
Trump also lent a helping hand by hosting a screening at the “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” But he could not stop the film from being pulled in theatres in South Africa and Oregon.
