Melania currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating higher than The Godfather, and it’s such a shock that even the company behind the review aggregator has responded to claims that the documentary’s positive user reviews are suspicious.
Melania, Brett Ratner’s controversial new documentary about President Donald Trump’s wife, the first lady, currently has a whopping 99 percent Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter score, which is based on audience ratings. That’s 1 percent higher than the audience score for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece The Godfather, which currently sits at 98 percent. It’s also higher than the score for 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, which also has a 98 percent.
On the other hand, critical reviews for Melania have been overwhelmingly negative since its January 30 release — which is reflected in the film’s dismal 5 percent Tomatometer, based on professional critics’ ratings. That said, there’s been some suspicion surrounding the movie’s score among non-critics, including online allegations of fake or paid reviews and bots.
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However, in a statement to Newsweek, Versant, the company behind Rotten Tomatoes, denied “any suggestion” its user reviews may have been manipulated for Melania.
“There has been NO bot manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary. Reviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film,” a spokesperson said.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, a verified user rating comprises “a verified review from a moviegoer that bought a ticket and wrote a review through Fandango,” the latter of which is also partially owned by Versant alongside Warner Bros. Discovery. Rotten Tomatoes established its verified audience ratings system in 2019.
Meanwhile, Newsweek reports Debunk.org flagged “something suspicious” about the audience reviews for the documentary, including that all the accounts who posted verified reviews “seem to have only a single review, which is odd, because citizens who love movies tend to be heavier review writers as well.” A majority of the positive verified reviews were posted on the same day, as well.
Melania, which reportedly cost $75 million to produce and market, has exceeded its projected $2 million to $5 million box office earnings, taking home $7 million in revenue.
Though the film is a financial flop, Deadline reports it’s also the “biggest opening for a non-fiction feature in the last decade.”
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