Amazon pulled the nation’s No. 3 movie “Melania” from a theater in Oregon due to jokes mocking first lady Melania Trump on the marquee.
Melania raked in $8 million at the box office – the strongest box office sales for a documentary in a decade.
According to The Oregonian, Amazon pulled the movie out of a theater in Lake Oswego, Oregon, following complaints from moviegoers about the movie marquee.
The Lake Theater and Cafe marketed the movie on the marquee: “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday” and “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. Melania starts Friday.”
Theater manager Jordan Perry said he received a call from Amazon asking him to stop showing the movie at his theater.
“The studio was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public,” Perry told The Oregonian.
Perry changed the message on the marquee to read: “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead.”
Perry also noted on Instagram that he received backlash from local moviegoers who were upset the theater was screening Melania in the first place.
“Before then, we got countless emails and voicemails and Google / Yelp reviews wondering why the hell we had Melania here, or disdaining our disparaging of her. Now that it’s prematurely over, the plug pulled on us not from public outcry (always listening, thank you) but by some corporate executive (fair enough, sorry AMZN, please don’t cancel my Prime).”
