FANDUEL TAKING BETS
'Not so great!' CNN data guru floored by soaring odds 'Melania' doc flopsMatthew Chapman
January 27, 2026
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend "Les Miserables" opening night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Amazon-sponsored "Melania" documentary appears on track to land with a thud, CNN data analyst Harry Enten told anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday.
Already, reports indicate that theaters are dealing with massive amounts of unsold seats, and even some of the film crew who worked on the movie are hoping for it to tank.
As evidence for the impending failure, Enten pointed to early data from Kalshi, a gambling website with which CNN has a partnership deal.
"Tonight, early ticket sales for the new documentary 'Melania' not pointing to a blockbuster at this time," said Burnett, bringing on Enten. "The president, though, says tickets are selling fast ... so, Harry, will the president be right?"
"I don't think the president is going to be right," said Enten. "And you know what we're expecting right now in terms of how the movie is going to be received, just take a look at the projections for the Rotten Tomatoes for 'Melania', the chance of the score, in fact, being below 20 percent. That's not good, Erin. That's not good. Being below 20 percent a majority chance, according to the prediction market odds."
"And why is it, why do they feel that the odds might not be so hot to trot?" he continued. "Well, it comes back to the fact that's the same reason that we don't think that it's going to necessarily be selling out a whole heck of a lot of tickets. Why? Because what's the projection for opening weekend for Melania? It's just $1-5 million, which is again, not so great. That's a forecast. Take a look at 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' the top documentary of all time. In the first weekend it was $41 million. For Melania? Not anywhere close."
January 27, 2026
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend "Les Miserables" opening night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Amazon-sponsored "Melania" documentary appears on track to land with a thud, CNN data analyst Harry Enten told anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday.
Already, reports indicate that theaters are dealing with massive amounts of unsold seats, and even some of the film crew who worked on the movie are hoping for it to tank.
As evidence for the impending failure, Enten pointed to early data from Kalshi, a gambling website with which CNN has a partnership deal.
"Tonight, early ticket sales for the new documentary 'Melania' not pointing to a blockbuster at this time," said Burnett, bringing on Enten. "The president, though, says tickets are selling fast ... so, Harry, will the president be right?"
"I don't think the president is going to be right," said Enten. "And you know what we're expecting right now in terms of how the movie is going to be received, just take a look at the projections for the Rotten Tomatoes for 'Melania', the chance of the score, in fact, being below 20 percent. That's not good, Erin. That's not good. Being below 20 percent a majority chance, according to the prediction market odds."
"And why is it, why do they feel that the odds might not be so hot to trot?" he continued. "Well, it comes back to the fact that's the same reason that we don't think that it's going to necessarily be selling out a whole heck of a lot of tickets. Why? Because what's the projection for opening weekend for Melania? It's just $1-5 million, which is again, not so great. That's a forecast. Take a look at 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' the top documentary of all time. In the first weekend it was $41 million. For Melania? Not anywhere close."
Melania's film crew member hopes for flop as insiders share behind-the-scenes tales
Ewan Gleadow
January 27, 2026
Ewan Gleadow
January 27, 2026
RAW STORY
Members of the team behind the Melania Trump documentary are hoping the film bombs at the box office, according to a report.
Insiders have suggested the filming of the Brett Ratner-helmed documentary, "Melania," was chaos behind the scenes. Part of the problem was getting access to Melania and the Trump family, but some issues were caused by Ratner himself, according to Rolling Stone. The film director has not worked on a project since 2014's Hercules and was subject to a number of sexual assault and harassment allegations in 2017.
One insider, speaking to Rolling Stone, said, "People were worked really hard. Really long hours, highly disorganized, very chaotic."
Another added that the shoot "wasn't easy money. It was very difficult because of the chaos that was around everything. … Usually [for a documentary] it’s like, ‘Oh, follow the subject.’ Well, it’s Melania Trump. With the first lady and Secret Service, you can’t just do things you usually do."
Other members of the production team now regret putting their name on the documentary, with one person saying they are "much more alarmed now than I was a year ago."
Another source who spoke to Rolling Stone suggested almost two-thirds of the crew who worked on the film in New York had requested their name be pulled from the credits of the documentary.
A third anonymous source who worked on Melania said, "I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this. But Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project."
Another source suggested they hope the film does not perform well. They said, “Unfortunately, if it does flop, I would really feel great about it.”
Amazon MGM Studios said they greenlit the project because it would be of interest to audiences. A spokesperson told Rolling Stone, "We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only - because we think customers are going to love it."
Members of the team behind the Melania Trump documentary are hoping the film bombs at the box office, according to a report.
Insiders have suggested the filming of the Brett Ratner-helmed documentary, "Melania," was chaos behind the scenes. Part of the problem was getting access to Melania and the Trump family, but some issues were caused by Ratner himself, according to Rolling Stone. The film director has not worked on a project since 2014's Hercules and was subject to a number of sexual assault and harassment allegations in 2017.
One insider, speaking to Rolling Stone, said, "People were worked really hard. Really long hours, highly disorganized, very chaotic."
Another added that the shoot "wasn't easy money. It was very difficult because of the chaos that was around everything. … Usually [for a documentary] it’s like, ‘Oh, follow the subject.’ Well, it’s Melania Trump. With the first lady and Secret Service, you can’t just do things you usually do."
Other members of the production team now regret putting their name on the documentary, with one person saying they are "much more alarmed now than I was a year ago."
Another source who spoke to Rolling Stone suggested almost two-thirds of the crew who worked on the film in New York had requested their name be pulled from the credits of the documentary.
A third anonymous source who worked on Melania said, "I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this. But Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project."
Another source suggested they hope the film does not perform well. They said, “Unfortunately, if it does flop, I would really feel great about it.”
Amazon MGM Studios said they greenlit the project because it would be of interest to audiences. A spokesperson told Rolling Stone, "We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only - because we think customers are going to love it."
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