Stephen Colbert used his Late Show monologue to poke fun at the weak advance ticket sales for Melania Trump’s upcoming documentary Melania. He cited reports of empty seats in major theaters and the film’s expensive production budget.
Stephen Colbert jokes about Melania documentary ticket sales
Stephen Colbert addressed reports of weak advance ticket sales for Melania Trump’s upcoming documentary MELANIA during his Late Show monologue Tuesday night. He used the statistics to deliver a series of sharp jokes about the limited demand for the film in some high-profile locations.
Colbert told his audience that some major theaters, particularly in New York City, were showing no advance purchases for early-weekend screenings. Citing the Regal and AMC venues in Times Square, he said no tickets were sold for two Saturday evening shows at 7:30 p.m. He added, “It’s literally the busiest block on the planet!” Before re-emphasizing, “Zero tickets were sold at AMC.”
The comedian also cited online screenshots of theater booking pages, which showed queues of empty seats across the country. “Social media is flooded with images of theaters in major cities that haven’t sold a single seat,” Colbert said. He said projections showed the $75 million production might bring in only $1 or $2 million in its opening weekend.
Colbert then turned to the scale of investment behind the film, which is directed by Brett Ratner and financed by Amazon’s MGM studios. He commented, “Amazon paid a whopping $40 million for the film and an additional $35 million for marketing, promotion, and distribution. Such a huge box office, right? Wrong.”
Colbert also mocked the premise of the documentary, which follows Melania Trump in the days before President Donald Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. He quipped, “This is a real glimpse of a woman lifting the curtain from behind the curtain.”
Melania is set to release in theaters on January 30.
Originally reported by Dishita Maheshwari Mandatory