Melania Doc Budget Sparks Debate Over How Much Doc Budgets Really Cost
Amazon paid about $40 million to license a Melania Trump documentary and earmarked roughly $35 million more for marketing, making it one of the most expensive non-fiction titles to date. The piece contrasts that budget with historic documentary costs (The World At War at ~$17.6m in today’s money; Walking With Dinosaurs at $9.9m; Planet Earth at $25m; Earth at $47m), notes the 20-day shoot at Mar-a-Lago, and highlights Melania Trump’s co-production role as well as Ratner’s involvement. It argues the high spend, contrasted with uncertain box-office returns, may reflect strategic aims (such as political influence) rather than a typical documentary run, and cites reception at a White House screening and broader industry speculation.