Amazon has reportedly demanded that a local Oregon movie theater pull screenings of its documentary Melaniaafter the establishment made a series of jokes about its controversial subject, the First Lady. Ahead of the movie's recent global release, the Lake Theater & Café in Lake Oswego, a suburb of Portland, lightheartedly promoted the title on its marquee, saying: "Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!" and "To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania."
Mikey Weinstein, the president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the nonprofit received reports from eight bases around the world that U.S. military members were being "pressured" to see "Melania." "People are scared," said Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and attorney who said his group is made up of nearly 100,000 current and former members of the U.S. military and represents those who feel pressured or coerced into unconstitutional religious observances.
Instead, the big success story was , a new film directed by Mark Fischbach, better known as the popular YouTuber Markiplier. Inspired by the 2022 horror game created by David Szymanski, Iron Lung was made for $3m and has made $21m to date, Impressively, the film also reigned supreme over Sam Raimi's new horror comedy Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien.
Mr. President, Amazon paid $75 million to make and market this film. It's an exorbitant fee. Many Americans think that this is maybe Jeff Bezos trying to get in good with you, and they would call it an act of corporate corruption. Who are you with? The New York Times. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (SCOFFS) The New York Times! The fake news New York Times! No, I don't know, I mean, I don't know really, I'm not involved in that.
The District of Columbia will close numerous streets near the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Thursday evening, including the north- and southbound lanes of Rock Creek Parkway from Virginia Avenue, Northwest, to Shoreham Drive, Northwest. The National Symphony Orchestra will present a Brahms and Scriabin program this evening, an event that would not typically prompt road closures. But the center will also also host a premiere of Melania, a documentary about Melania Trump, on Thursday evening.
Hundreds of students at multiple East Bay high schools staged a walkout Wednesday in protest of ICE. The students assembled in a parking lot in San Leandro around 10 am this morning. [KTVU] The developer behind the Bishop Ranch complex in San Ramon has revealed plans for 8.400 new homes to be built thaere, following the departure of Chevron from its offices. [Chronicle]
On January 30th, Sam Raimi's Send Help arrives in theaters, and Variety reports that the horror auteur's return to B-movie glory is tracking to make $14-$17 million its opening weekend. That's not huge, but Send Help is in better shape than another new release: The Amazon documentary Melania, also opening this weekend, is predicted to earn around $3 million. As Variety notes, making more than $1 million theatrically could be considered pretty good for any kind of non-fiction movie that isn't a concert film.
