Endless Thread Fresh, stale, or politics? The Melania doc's Rotten Tomatoes score, explained
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Feb 20, 2026 A deep dive into why a Melania documentary has wildly different critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. They explore suspicious box office numbers, reports of bulk ticket buying, and Amazon’s big rights and marketing spend. The show also explains how Rotten Tomatoes verifies audience ratings and why political alignment might drive score gaps.
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Empty Theaters Fueled Suspicion
- The Melania documentary reportedly cost $75 million and had a surprising $7 million opening weekend.
- Reddit users noticed empty theaters and speculated about block ticket buying to inflate numbers.
Big Studio Spending Raises Questions
- Amazon paid $40 million for the film rights and spent $35 million marketing the documentary.
- Those large sums prompted questions about why the film received such heavy backing.
Two Separate Rotten Tomatoes Scores
- Rotten Tomatoes shows two separate scores: the critic 'Tomatometer' and the audience 'Popcorn' meter.
- The Popcorn meter can default to verified ratings from people Rotten Tomatoes can match to Fandango ticket purchases.