A movie theater known for its wise-cracking marquees apparently went a little too far in the eyes of Amazon. When it booked the Melania documentary about the first lady, the independent Lake Theater & Cafe in suburban Portland channeled Sun Tzu's The Art of War and put this up on the big board to plug it: "To defeat your enemy, you must know them. Melania starts Friday," reports the Oregonian. The gag didn't land with the studio. "Got a call that the higher ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how our marquee marketed their movie (i.e., Melania), that, per them, Sunday would be its last day here," the theater wrote on Instagram Monday.
Theater manager Jordan Perry said he wasn't bothered because he was going to ask Amazon to shorten the run from two weeks to one week anyway, but the missive came before that could happen. He explained that he booked the film in the liberal area mainly because "I thought doing so would be funny." Still, it didn't go over well with regulars. Perry calculated that the short run of Melania sent only $196 to what he jokingly called the "Jeff Bezos Trust Fund," adding that while the Amazon founder won't notice the money, "someone on his team noticed our marquee."
The Hollywood Reporter notes that the theater continued the marquee snark after the move. "Amazon called," the new one read. "Our marquee made them mad. All Melania showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead." (Amazon owns the food chain, too.) Amazon MGM did not respond to comments about the odd flap. (The Guardian corrected its own review of the movie to make it even worse.)
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