Melania film has been pulled in South Africa

US First Lady Melania Trump's movie documentary is premiering in theatres around the world today (30 January).

However, it seems the film is already facing some teething issues as it's been revealed that it won't be showing in South African cinemas.

The film's local distributor, Filmfinity, has decided not to release it, its head of sales and marketing told the New York Times and South Africa-based website News24.

However, they kept their reasoning behind the sudden pull vague.

In a statement to the NYT, Filmfinity's Thobashan Govindarajulu said: "Based on recent developments, we’ve taken the decision to not go ahead with a theatrical release in territory."

He also told News24 that the decision had been taken 'given the current climate,' but didn't elaborate further on what he meant.

The head of sales and marketing confirmed that the company was not pressured or asked to pull the film, stating: "That was our decision."

Melania Trump's new documentary movie will not be showing in South Africa (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

It comes at a time when relations between America and South Africa have deteriorated under President Donald Trump's leadership.

The Republican has been critical of the country since the start of his second term, spreading false allegations that the country’s white minority is facing a genocide, as reported by various publications, including the New York Times.

Earlier this week, Mark Sardi, who is the chief executive of Ster-Kinekor, one of South Africa’s major movie theatre chains, told the publication that he didn't know why Filmfinity had pulled the documentary.

He said in an interview with the NYT: "Our basic position would be we’re not in the business of censorship. I expect the decision would have been a commercial one balanced with a whole lot of current issues."

And this isn't actually the first issue that Melania the movie has faced in recent weeks.

The documentary, which was directed by Brett Ratner, sees cameras follow the First Lady, 55, for a total of 20 days during the run-up to her husband's 2025 inauguration back in January.

Its synopsis reads: "With exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments, 'Melania' showcases Mrs. Trump’s return to one of the world’s most powerful roles."

And today, as we say, it's set to open in at least 1,400 theatres across the United States and in more than 27 countries.

However, there has been confusion on ticket sales as people are beginning to crunch the numbers and look at opening weekend projections.

As per Forbes, the documentary reportedly cost Amazon MGM Studios $40 million for the rights and another $35 million on marketing and distribution, so a huge $75 million in total.

The South African film distributor didn't go into the specifics of why the movie has been pulled (Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images)

But market research company National Research Group have projected a $5 million opening weekend, Puck reported, which is, of course, just a small fraction of this figure.

Trade publication Boxoffice Pro projects an estimate even lower - between $1 million and $2 million.

Despite Trump insisting it's 'selling out fast,' people have pulled up screenshots of cinemas with hardly any bookings to prove him wrong.

According to Newsweek's report on 28 January, even in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago adjacent town of Palm Beach, Florida, the documentary film had sold just 13 per cent of tickets at the time of writing.

Only 234 of the 1770 available tickets had allegedly been reserved.

Tyla has contacted the White House and Filmfinity for comment.

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