Amazon’s highly promoted theatrical rollout of the documentary “Melania” delivered a surprisingly strong debut, drawing roughly $7 million in ticket sales across the United States and Canada during its opening weekend, according to box office analysts on Sunday. The figure marked the most successful launch for a non-concert documentary in more than a decade.

For Melania Trump, the result offered a measure of reassurance after early tracking suggested a softer start of around $5 million. For Amazon, however, the numbers were far less flattering. The company reportedly paid an extraordinary $75 million to acquire distribution rights and mount a nationwide marketing campaign for the film, which opened in 1,778 theaters. Because exhibitors typically retain about half of ticket revenue, Amazon’s share of the weekend haul is estimated at roughly $3.5 million.

Prior to Sunday’s final tally, analysts had predicted about $8 million in domestic ticket sales based on Friday performance and advance purchases for Saturday and Sunday. The slightly lower result indicates that interest was concentrated heavily on opening day, driven largely by committed supporters of Mrs. Trump rather than casual audiences.

Even with the modest shortfall, “Melania” still posted the best wide release for a traditional documentary since 2012, when Disney’s nature feature “Chimpanzee” earned $10.7 million — about $15 million in today’s dollars after inflation. The film finished third overall at the North American box office. A 20th Century Studios horror thriller, “Send Help,” topped the weekend with approximately $20 million, while the independently released sci-fi horror title “Iron Lung” placed second with an estimated $18 million.

Internationally, the documentary opened in around 1,600 theaters, but industry trackers described turnout abroad as weak. Amazon declined to provide overseas revenue figures.

Ticket-buying patterns revealed a distinctly political and demographic tilt. Research firm EntTelligence found that rural theaters accounted for about 46 percent of domestic sales — far higher than usual for a new release. Counties that lean Republican generated roughly 53 percent of all tickets sold. Florida, Texas, and Arizona emerged as the strongest performing states.

The audience skewed heavily female, making up 70 percent of viewers, and most attendees were over the age of 55, according to data shared by Amazon.

At a Cinemark theater in Cleveland, Ohio, a Friday screening drew several busloads of seniors from a nearby retirement center. One 80-year-old viewer described the film as “light and pleasant,” while another laughed off criticism that the documentary was political propaganda, saying she was unsure what detractors expected in the first place.

In Staten Island, New York, a 60-year-old attendee said he rarely goes to movies anymore but purchased a ticket to express frustration with what he sees as Hollywood’s liberal bias. During the screening, portions of the crowd reportedly applauded when Donald Trump appeared on screen, and at least one person shouted support for a future presidential run.

Amazon is expected to make “Melania” available on Prime Video within three to four weeks, providing an additional avenue for monetization. Still, the scale of its investment — including roughly $40 million just for the rights, outbidding competitors by a wide margin — has fueled debate over whether the purchase was driven more by politics than profit.

One prominent box office consultant characterized the deal as a political calculation rather than a conventional business move.

The spending spree also came at a sensitive moment for Amazon, which announced 16,000 layoffs earlier this year following 14,000 corporate job cuts in October, intensifying scrutiny of its priorities.

In public statements, Amazon has insisted that it acquired the documentary simply because it believed audiences would enjoy it. After the opening weekend, the company said it was encouraged by domestic results and viewed the theatrical release as the beginning of a longer commercial life that would also include a companion docuseries on Prime Video later this year.

Moviegoers themselves reacted warmly. Exit polls from CinemaScore awarded the film an “A” grade. One Florida viewer called it “graceful, informative, and beautifully produced,” saying she planned to recommend it widely within her conservative social circle.

Critical response, however, was largely negative. Reviewers argued that the film felt carefully controlled and heavily polished, more akin to a promotional profile than an independent documentary. Variety’s chief critic described it as so meticulously managed that it barely rose above a glossy advertisement.

The film was directed by Brett Ratner, who has not made a movie since 2017 following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied. Reports also suggested that about two-thirds of the New York-based crew asked not to be credited. Among those who did accept on-screen credit was Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth.

Cameras followed Mrs. Trump for 20 days in January, culminating in Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Not all viewers were political allies. A 32-year-old self-described Democrat in Los Angeles said he attended a late-night screening out of curiosity about Melania Trump’s life story, noting that she remains a figure who shapes public perceptions regardless of one’s personal views.

Documentaries have traditionally struggled at the mainstream box office. Over the past 15 years, only three non-concert films have crossed $20 million in North America: “Chimpanzee,” the political documentary “2016: Obama’s America,” and Morgan Neville’s portrait of Fred Rogers, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

None, however, approached the cost of “Melania.” By comparison, Focus Features reportedly spent about $12 million on rights and marketing for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” — roughly $15.5 million in today’s dollars.

Occasionally, a documentary breaks through to become a cultural phenomenon. Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” remains the highest-grossing documentary of all time, earning $119 million in North America in 2004 — the equivalent of about $208 million today.

Whether “Melania” will achieve anything close to that level of impact remains uncertain. What is clear is that Amazon’s gamble has already sparked a broader conversation about the intersection of entertainment, politics, and corporate power in modern America.