In a surprising turn of events, Amazon has decided to withdraw the film "Melania" from a local theater due to some light-hearted jabs that were made on its marquee. This action raises eyebrows, especially given that Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos are both individuals who usually seem to have thick skins when it comes to humor.
The Oregonian first reported this incident, which was later picked up by national outlets like The Daily Beast. The Lake Theater and Cafe, located in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is known for its clever and entertaining advertising methods. Last week, the theater showcased the release of Amazon MGM’s controversial documentary with playful marquee phrases like, "Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!" and a quote from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: "To defeat your enemy, you must know them. Melania starts Friday."
However, after these promotional efforts, manager Jordan Perry revealed that the theater received a phone call from an Amazon representative requesting that they cease showing the film. "The studio was not pleased and did not appreciate my approach to marketing their movie to our audience," Perry explained to The Oregonian.
As a response to the request from Amazon, the marquee was altered to read: "Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead." This message was humorously followed by a plug for Amazon Prime's free two-day shipping service. As of now, Amazon has not issued any official comment regarding this situation.
Interestingly, the theater faced a wave of criticism from local community members even before the film was pulled from the schedule. Many patrons expressed their discontent with the theater's decision to screen "Melania" in the first place. Their Instagram post highlighted that they received numerous emails, voicemails, and reviews questioning their choice to showcase the film and criticizing their mocking tone towards it. "Now that it’s prematurely over, the plug pulled not from public outcry (which we always listen to, thank you) but by a corporate executive (fair enough, sorry AMZN, please don’t cancel my Prime)," the post stated.
Perry also mentioned that the theater had only managed to sell $196 worth of tickets during the film's single weekend screening, despite the documentary performing surprisingly well nationally, marking the highest opening weekend for a documentary in a decade, despite harsh reviews from critics.
He booked the film for a rather amusing reason: considering the liberal nature of the area, he believed that showing "Melania" would be a humorous contrast. "Wouldn't it be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show Melania here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking neighborhood cinema?" he mused. Unfortunately, it appears that neither side possessed a sense of humor regarding the situation.
