Michelle Obama’s documentary “Becoming” saw a sharp increase in viewership over the weekend.Image: Netflix
In 2020, Michelle Obama released “Becoming.” The documentary achieved almost 50 million minutes watched on the same weekend that the current First Lady’s documentary was released in cinemas.
Feb 5, 2026, 10:16 am02/05/2026, 11:18
Michelle Obama’s 2020 documentary “Becoming” saw a significant increase in viewership the same weekend that “Melania” was released in theaters.
The film, which follows the former first lady and follows the hit book of the same name, records loud The Hollywood Reporter last weekend saw an increase in views of more than 13,000 percent. In total, Netflix users watched the film for 47.5 million minutes. The previous weekend there were only 354,000 minutes.
“Melania,” which was produced by Amazon for $40 million and spent $35 million in advertising, grossed $7 million (5.4 million Swiss francs) in its first weekend at the US box office. This is the best result for a documentary in the US in more than a decade. The film had more trouble in England and Australia – in London exactly one ticket was sold for the premiere last Friday.
Donald and Melania Trump at the premiere of Melania’s documentary.Image: keystone
While it’s not entirely fair to compare box office revenue with streaming viewership, the two documentaries about the first ladies provide a good insight into the current political polarization in the US.
“Melania” currently has a rating of 5% Rotten Tomatoescompared to “Becoming,” which is at 93%. “Melania” now has a rating of 1.3/10 from more than 32,000 votes IMDb – an improvement from its previous rating of 1.0. This would have made it the lowest rated film of all time on IMDb.
(cmu)