South Africa Cancels Release of ‘Melania’ Documentary

A new documentary about first lady Melania Trump, scheduled to open worldwide on Friday, was pulled from South African theaters on Wednesday, the film's local distributor said. Thobashan Govindarajulu, the head of sales and marketing for distributor Filmfinity, said, "Based on recent developments, we’ve taken the decision to not go ahead with a theatrical release in territory." He declined to specify what recent developments had led to the decision and said the company was not pressured or asked to pull the film: "That was our decision." The decision was first reported by News24.

The promotion of the film has been polarizing; President Trump has touted the movie as a "must watch," but theaters reported thin advanced ticket sales despite Amazon investing $40 million for the rights and spending tens of millions more on marketing, which industry analysts saw as a big risk.

The documentary is directed by Brett Ratner and is his first Hollywood film since he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017, during the height of the #MeToo movement. The choice to pull the film comes at a time of deep hostility between the South African government and Mr. Trump.

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