South Africa cancels cinematic release of ‘Melania’ due to “recent developments”

Posted On January 29, 2026January 29, 2026

The new Melania Trump documentary, Melania, will no longer be shown in cinemas in South Africa.

The film, directed by Brett Ratner, who was blacklisted from Hollywood following a string of sexual assault allegations made against him that he denies, is set for a global cinematic release on January 30th.

It is the most expensive documentary ever made, with costs for Amazon MGM studios reaching a total of $75 million, including its $35 million marketing budget.

However, it will no longer be shown in South African cinemas. Thobashan Govindarajulu, the head of sales and marketing for the regional distributor, Filmfinity, has confirmed their decision.

He stated, (via New York Times), “Based on recent developments, we’ve taken the decision to not go ahead with a theatrical release in territory.”

Govindarajulu declined to specify a particular reason why his company had chosen to stop distributing the film in South Africa, but clarified, “That was our decision”.

Donald Trump has been engaging in a war of words with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, which has also seen Trump boycott the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November and threaten to ban South Africa from attending the next edition of the G20 in Miami.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the white South African population is the target of an ongoing genocide, which has widely been rebuked.

Ramaphosa said in response to the US president’s comments in November, “He repeated untrue statements about genocide against Afrikaners and the confiscation of land from white people in our country.”

Another issue that has likely contributed to Filmfinity’s decision to withdraw Melania from South African cinemas could be ticket sales, following reports that the film is struggling in the UK market.

Earlier this week, Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue Cinemas, admitted that sales had been “soft” for Melania, which is set to be shown in other 100 branches of the chain.

According to The Guardian, as of January 26th, zero tickets had been sold for the 28 screenings of Melania at the branches of Vue in Blackburn, Castleford and Hamilton.

Days ago, hours after Alex Pretti was killed in Minnesota, Donald Trump claimed on social media that tickets were “selling out, FAST” and described it as “MUST WATCH” following its premiere at The White House.

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