It what has been dubbed ‘duelling first ladies’, viewers have been flocking to a five-year-old documentary in an apparent protest against the newly released Melania Trump movie.

Melania, which reportedly cost Amazon-MGM US$40 million to acquire and US$35 million to promote, hit theatres last week earning US$7.1 million in its opening weekend.

Meanwhile, Becoming, the 2020 Netflix documentary focusing on former first lady Michelle Obama, experienced a 13,000 per cent jump in views over the same period.

According to viewing data provider Luminate, Becoming notched up 47.5 million minutes of streaming time as Melania hit cinemas – up from up from just 354,000 minutes the weekend before.

“The resurgence of interest in Becoming is a prime example of audiences discovering, or re-discovering, catalog content due to larger conversations in the zeitgeist,” Luminate communications director Jimmy Harney said in a statement.

Melania, which chronicles the 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, earned a scathing 5 per cent on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes based on professional movie critics who watched the film.

The Brett Ratner directed documentary is  expected to hit Amazon’s Prime Video in the coming  weeks.

Amazon punishes cinema

The duelling first lady docos comes as at least one US cinema paid the price for sharing it;s true feelings for Melania Trump

Amazon pulled the film from the Lake Theater & Café in Portland Oregon after the theatre’s marquee messages promoting the film included “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!” in reference to the movie The Devil Wears Prada.

Another marquee message quoted Sun Tzu’s The Art of War  – “To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania.”

Amazon took exception to the theatre’s promotion. Photo: Facebook

After being contacted by Amazon asking them to remove the messages, the marquee was subsequently changed to read: “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All “Melania” showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead. Join Amazon Prime for Free Two-Day Shipping”. 

Becoming, produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions for Netflix, is partly based on the Michelle Obama’s 2018 memoir of the same name that sold more than 10 million copies.

Directed by Nadia Hallgren, it was released during the COVID-19 lockdown era in May 2020 and follows Obama’s experiences while on tour for her book.