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‘She Just Copied Michelle’: Trump Pulled ‘Out All the Stops’ for Melania’s Boost, But America Still Picked Michelle Obama

Posted byBy Angelina Velasquez | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Melania Trump can echo the speeches and mirror the rollout, but critics say influence isn’t something you can duplicate.

Her Amazon MGM documentary “Melania,” focused on the final 20 days before Donald Trump’s return to office, opened to weak numbers — pulling in

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” drew, becoming one of the most-watched documentaries of its release window and dominating conversation far beyond politics.

Melania Trump's self-titled documentary has viewers picking sides between "Melania" and Michelle Obama's "Becoming." (Photos by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Melania Trump’s self-titled documentary has viewers picking sides between “Melania” and Michelle Obama’s “Becoming.” (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images; Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

‘Really? She Did It Again?’: Melania’s Speech Stumble Has Fans Asking If She Swiped from Michelle Obama or If She Knows What a Vowel Is

The vanity project, if you will, was Melania’s story of becoming a two-time first lady and cost the Jeff Bezos-founded company a reported $40 million to purchase its rights. The film was released on Jan. 30 and is expected to become available on Prime when the theatrical run concludes.

As one Trump critic put it, “Once again she just copied Michelle Obama’s documentary BECOMING! The lady can’t be original if she tried. First she plagiarized Michelle Obama’s speech, then she wears a Flag dress like Michelle Obama, then she makes a documentary w/ one word Melania like Michelle Obama BECOMING.”

Reports of low ticket sales, limited international screens, and a widespread social media boycott encouraging people, predominantly white and Black women, to stream Michelle‘s documentary on Netflix derailed Melania’s big opening weekend.

Michelle unveiled an intimate look at her life in 2020. The footage, which followed the Chicago native along the 2018 book tour for her “Becoming” memoir, ranked No. 6 on Netflix two days before “Melania” landed on the big screen.

Yet there are some similarities between the film’s poster and Michelle’s “Becoming” poster, which feature both ladies in left-profile views. Melania is seen sitting in a chair in a black pantsuit, looking over her left shoulder, against a white background, whereas Michelle’s documentary cover shows her left profile, complete with the faces of citizens she has interacted with or spoken to.

However, excitement over the “Melania” boycott was interrupted when several streaming customers realized the film was incorrectly categorized as kids content.  

“Internal error” or not, fans were furious and quickly assumed the mishap was a blatant tactic to limit views. “They’re big mad this documentary was way more successful than the chopped accent Melanoma movie NOBODY and I mean NOBODYYYYYY asked for a movie about [her],” scoffed one person.

View on Threads

The outage evolved into threats to abandon the streamer. At least one person turned their focus to Trump’s presidential power and his investment portfolio in search of a clue as to what happened.

On IG Threads, one user mentioned, “Nearly two months ago, Trump bought Netflix bonds. Days ago, Michelle Obama’s Becoming was moved to the kids section. This kind of childish behavior fits Trump’s long pattern when he starts losing.”

A Facebook user added, “The movie is a failure, but Trump is pulling out all the stops to make it appear like a major hit. Netflix is doing its pay-to-play because Netflix is trying to buy HBO and other outlets, and it needs approval from the Trump administration.”

More than 12,000 liked the post, agreeing that “Becoming” surging back into trending territory “got the magas in a tizzy!” Another user disappointedly commented, “I thought Netflix was one that didn’t succumb to Piggy’s threats but obviously money is the factor that worked for them. Disgusted.”

“Melania” finished in the No. 3 spot opening weekend, raking in $7 million across 1,778 theaters. Trump boasted, “She’s had tremendous success… What do I get out of it? Nothing out of it. I had a top model, now I have a top movie star,” between signing executive orders in the Oval Office.

Trump also lent a helping hand by hosting a screening at the “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” But he could not stop the film from being pulled in theatres in South Africa and Oregon.

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