Grounding rumor Variety published ‘Melania’ movie review saying people would walk out if shown on plane

In late January 2026, a rumor spread online claiming that the long-running Hollywood trade magazine Variety had published a scathing review of “Melania,” a new documentary about first lady Melania Trump, days before the film’s official release. 

Users on social media platforms like Facebook (archived), X (archived) and Threads (archived) shared the following quote from the alleged review: “If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out.”

Best review ever. 

On the Amazons Melania “documentary”:

“If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out.” – Variety 💀 pic.twitter.com/FWamDuCnK2

— The Left Bible (@theleftbible) January 28, 2026

However, the purported review of “Melania” was incorrectly attributed to Variety. 

The film was set to premiere in theaters on Jan. 30, 2026, and at the time of this writing, reviews by professional movie critics had not been published. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes (archived) showed no reviews listed for the film as of Jan. 29.

Studios often impose embargoes on movie reviews. Reviews for “Melania” may have been subject to one until its release on Jan. 30, but Snopes could not independently confirm this.

A Variety spokesperson confirmed to Snopes via email Jan. 29 that it had not published a review of “Melania” that included the quote.

A search of Variety’s website (archived) returned no results for a review of “Melania.” Instead, it turned up Variety’s previous reporting on the film, including that it had been pulled from theaters in South Africa.

The outlet reported the move was made “amid rising tensions between Donald Trump and the South African government after the U.S president criticized the country, making widely discredited claims that a genocide is being committed against its white population.”

A nearly identical version of the quote incorrectly attributed to Variety circulated before 2026 and was used to criticize other movies, most prominently Disney’s 2025 live-action “Snow White.”

A January 2025 YouTube video with nearly 10 million views as of this writing set purported negative online comments about “Snow White” to song lyrics. The song’s first line is, “If I saw this movie on a plane, I would still walk out,” referencing one user’s supposed comment about the film.

A March 2025 Facebook post claimed the line came from a review featured on Rotten Tomatoes. However, like Variety’s purported review of “Melania,” no review of “Snow White” including this line appeared on the website.

Though the Variety review in question was not authentic, “Melania” was met with criticism and grim box office forecasts. Some critics focused on the film’s director, Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual harassment in 2017 and had not made a film since. Others focused on the movie’s hefty price tag, which eclipsed the budgets of similar documentaries. 

The New York Times wrote about Amazon’s investment in the fillm, noting that the company is distributing the movie and put $35 million into its marketing — reportedly “10 times what some other high-profile documentaries have received” — and that Hollywood insiders are wondering if “Amazon’s push is anything more than the company’s attempt to ingratiate itself with President Trump.”

On top of its hefty marketing budget, the Times reported Amazon paid “Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights” to the documentary, including an additional docuseries scheduled for later in the year, which was “about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney.”

The report specified that the actual production budget for “Melania” was not made public, but similar documentaries usually cost less than $5 million to produce. 

Sources