Given 'Recent Developments,' Nation Drops Melania

A high-profile documentary about Melania Trump will no longer debut in South African cinemas this week, after the film's distributor there reversed course. Filmfinity executive Thobashan Govindarajulu said Wednesday the company had decided not to proceed with a theatrical rollout of Melania in South Africa, citing unspecified "recent developments." He declined to elaborate but stressed there had been no outside pressure to withdraw the film, the New York Times reports. The movie's global opening is planned for Friday.

The Amazon-backed documentary, which follows the first lady in the run-up to President Trump's second inauguration, has drawn attention for both its subject and its director, Brett Ratner, whose return to Hollywood comes after sexual misconduct accusations surfaced in 2017. Theaters have reported weak advance ticket sales, even as Amazon has spent heavily on acquisition and marketing. Relations between President Trump and the South African government, fueled by the president's tariff policies and false claims of genocide against the country's white minority, have been strained. An executive of a theater chain described advance ticket sales in the UK as "soft," per the Guardian.