For many moviegoers, “Melania” was not a marquee event — and one movie theater in Oregon agreed, much to distributor Amazon’s chagrin.
One marquee read, “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday,” while another referenced Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”: “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. ‘Melania’ starts Friday,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to the Instagram post, “the higher ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how the marquee marketed their movie (i.e., Melania), and said that Sunday would be the last day the film ran.” The post also jokingly expressed dismay that employees’ Amazon Prime accounts might get canceled as a result.
Theater manager Jordan Perry told the Oregonian that Amazon “was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public.”
After the film was removed from the theater, the marquee noted the snafu with two snarky remarks: “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings canceled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead,” and “Join Amazon Prime for Free 2-Day Shipping.”
HuffPost reached out to Amazon for comment, but no one immediately responded.
In a blog post on the theater website, Perry elaborated on why he decided to show “Melania” in the first place, writing, “Mostly, I thought doing so would be funny. For some of you, that’s enough. Great!”