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Melania Trump Documentary Scores Massive Amazon Payday

The streamer is paying a whopping $40 million to license the Brett Ratner-directed Melania Trump documentary plus another, previously undisclosed project from the first lady.

melania trump
Will the Melania Trump project chart a course for Brett Ratner to return to Hollywood? Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
January 7, 2025

You’re not alone in raising both eyebrows at Sunday’s news that Amazon will release a Melania Trump documentary directed by Brett Ratner, the Rush Hour filmmaker who has not made a Hollywood movie since 2018, when he was accused of sexual malfeasance by several women. (He’s denied the claims.) Of course, that this vanity documentary will air on a platform whose founder, Jeff Bezos, recently dined at Mar-A-Lago and is actively using his media properties to suck up to Melania’s husband, makes this whole thing even more ridiculous.