Jimmy Kimmel shares cruel conspiracy theory about why Melania documentary is smashing box office estimates
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has suggested that ticket sales of the new Melania movie have been ‘rigged’ by suspicious bulk purchases.
Kimmel, 58, floated the theory about the first lady’s documentary during his Wednesday monologue.
The skepticism stems from a Sunday Substack post by former IndieWire Editor Tom Brueggemann, which was later reported on by Puck.
Citing industry sources, the post sought to explain why the documentary made $7million on its opening weekend after premiering January 29.
Box-office experts like Brueggemann initially pegged the picture as a preemptive flop, set to rake in $1million-$5million, at most.
The movie’s debut, however, was surprisingly successful, leading Kimmel to broach the subject with the following segue: ‘Speaking of rigged outcomes.’
The host elaborated: ‘A lot of people, myself included, have been wondering how this movie managed to sell $7million worth of tickets last weekend when almost every theater seemed to be empty leading up to the release,’ the host said.
He went on to frame Brueggemann’s blog post as one of several ‘reports.’
Jimmy Kimmel – seen here on his show – tore into the new Melania movie Wednesday by suggesting its surprisingly successful box office results this week were the work of clandestine conservative groups
The first lady is seen at the world premier of the Amazon-MGM picture late last month. It has since hit some 17,000 US theaters
‘And if you don’t believe this is the kind of thing they would do, you may be forgetting that back in 2019, the Republican National Committee bought a $100,000 worth of Don Jr.’s book to put in swag bags to make it a New York Times bestseller,’ Kimmel said.
He went on to cite the same ‘industry sources’ who spoke to Brueggemann. They said there ‘were signs that blocs of tickets were purchased for the weekend, then distributed to senior citizen homes, Republican activists, other interested parties for free to help boost audiences.’
No proof, however, was provided, and Amazon, AMC, and Regal cinemas all told Puck they ‘did not experience unusual block purchases of tickets’ during the film’s first week.
‘Assuming this happened, how much did this help? We’ll never know,’ Brueggemann writes in his piece.
A jovial Kimmel reacted: ‘Imagine those poor senior citizens – “Good morning, Mrs. Greenwald. Here your your heart pills and here are your liver pills. And uh here’s a pair of tickets to Melania.”‘
The comic also cracked that Republican activists and senior citizens were ‘really the same thing’.
Conceding ‘some people actually did go to see the movie’, Kimmel flashed a photo of female congregants of Dr. Robert Jeffress’s Dallas Megachurch who donned dresses identical to the one the first lady wore during Trump’s second inauguration, which is a focal point in the film.
Kimmel relished in the fact that the group of women refer to themselves as ‘church ladies’.
Kimmel cited ‘industry sources’ who spoke to Substack writer Tom Brueggemann as proof that unseen forces propped up the Melania movie’s ticket sales
During his rant, Kimmel mocked a group of Texas women who donned identical dresses in honor of the film’s star
‘The rest of us call them the dumb as a rockettes,’ he quipped, in reference to the famous Radio City dance team.
Kimmel then compared the black-and-white garments to the recent redaction-riddled release of the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
He then pointed out how the Amazon-MGM picture had only secured a score of 5 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes after costing $75million to create.
‘To put that in perspective, that is 1 percent lower than “Gigli,” Kimmel remarked – a nod to the widely ridiculed Ben Affleck film.
He then added how the movie’s ‘audience score’ was an astronomical 99 percent – joking that the result was ‘1 percent higher than The Godfather.’
‘And I’m sure Donald J. Corleone had nothing to do with that at all,’ Kimmel said, before a sarcastic, ‘We need to get to the bottom of this’.
The host, however, could not resist some parting shot at both the administration and Jeff Bezos, who Kimmel pointed out, as Amazon’s owner, ‘paid for that garbage.’
‘[He] just laid off hundreds of journalists at the Washington Post. I guess he spent all the budget on Melania,’ Kimmel joked.
The film follows the 20 days before President Trump’s second inauguration ceremony a little over a year ago
Kimmel and others have criticized the film as an attempt to curry favor with the administration/ Pictured, Trump and New England Patriots owner Robert Craft taking in the first-ever Melania film screening on January 29
He urged Donald Trump to deploy Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, after she was seen at an FBI search of an elections office in Georgia last week.
Federal agents took ballots from Fulton County cast during the 2020 election that Trump has repeatedly said were meddled with – also without evidence.
Melania, meanwhile, showed a ‘strong start and positive audience response’ that ‘exceeded our expectations,’ according to Amazon MGM Studios’ chief of domestic distribution, Kevin Wilson.
Wilson made the remarks to the Hollywood Reporter, as the company continues to face flak for Melania’s price tag, which some have framed as an attempt to curry favor with the president, again, without evidence.
