Oregon Movie Theater Claims Amazon Canceled Documentary Over Marketing Dispute

A movie theater in Oregon has accused Amazon of removing the documentary Melania: Twenty Days to History from its screening lineup due to dissatisfaction with the theater’s marketing approach. The Lake Theater & Café, situated in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, shared on its Instagram account that Amazon executives were displeased with how the theater had advertised the documentary about First Lady Melania Trump and ordered it to cease showing the film.

According to the theater’s Instagram post, Amazon’s corporate team expressed their discontent with the theater’s marquee promotion for Melania, indicating that Sunday would mark the final day the film would be shown at the location. The theater’s marquee humorously announced: “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All ‘Melania’ shows canceled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead,” referencing Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017.

Theater and Amazon representatives did not immediately provide comments on the situation. A local newspaper, the Lake Oswego Review, had previously reported that the theater’s marquee displayed phrases such as “DOES MELANIA WEAR PRADA? FIND OUT FRIDAY!” and “TO DEFEAT YOUR ENEMY. YOU MUST KNOW THEM. MELANIA.”

The theater’s manager, Jordan Perry, noted in a blog post on the theater’s website that screening the film at the independent theater was a deliberate choice, describing it as “funny.”

Perry explained that choosing to show the film was done partly for humor, given the unique nature of the documentary. “I thought doing so would be funny,” he wrote, adding, “I mean, it just seems so weird that it even exists (who wants a movie about Melania lol?), and wouldn’t it then be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show it here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighborhood cinema?”

The documentary was also seen as a financial opportunity, with Amazon MGM Studios investing $40 million in acquiring the rights and $35 million in marketing the project. Melania premiered last week across more than 1,500 theaters in North America, surpassing initial weekend box office expectations and garnering $7 million in revenue.