Compared to its barnstorming US opening 10 days ago, when it charted at No 3 in the box office charts and made $7.2m (£5.76m), Melania’s UK start – No 29, £32,974 overall across 155 cinemas for a site average of £212.80 – was modest.
But the documentary has still dropped significantly in its second week of UK release, with tracking organisation Comscore confirming it has taken £4,091 from 62 locations, meaning a site average of £65.98 – or around six tickets per venue.
The film’s UK total now stands at £61,850, an 88% decline since last week. In the US, the equivalent figure – 67% – is also significant though not quite so precipitous.
Reviews in the UK have been particularly scathing, with the Guardian’s Xan Brooks describing it as “a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest” and “two hours of pure, endless hell”. But the film has been met with near universal critical disdain.
Over the weekend, a spokesperson for Rotten Tomatoes defended the unusually wide gap between these reviews and those posted by audience members on their site, saying “there has been NO manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary”.
They added: “Reviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning that it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film through Fandango.”
A streaming date for the Amazon film – for which the company paid $40m (£29m), plus an additional $35m (£25m) on marketing – is anticipated to be announced soon.
