Melania, the documentary about the US first lady, might have generated a media firestorm, but it has failed to dent the UK box office in its first weekend of release, opening at just No 29.

Brett Ratner’s film amassed £32,974 from 155 cinemas in total, a screen average of £212.80. While the takings are a far cry from the reported $75m (£54.6m) paid by Amazon to distribute and promote the film, it’s not the disaster that was projected.

Ahead of its premiere, UK ticket sales were described as “soft”, according to Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue, and on the day of release, many screenings across the UK were sparsely attended, with the film even playing to empty rooms in several locations over the weekend. However, some screening rooms, namely in Vue Islington, were booked up and filled with journalists.

Reporters rushed to see the film on Friday (30 January) after Amazon decided not to preview it ahead of time. The Independent attended a near-empty screening at Vue Westfield in Stratford where four other audience members were present, two of whom were reporters.

In the US, the film exceeded predictions on its opening day, grossing $2.9m (£2.1m) from 1,778 cinemas, but was still a flop. It was ultimately beaten at the box office by Iron Lung, an independently financed horror film made by YouTuber Mark Fischbach.

Inspired by the 2022 horror game created by David Szymanski, Iron Lung was made for $3m (£2.1m) and has made $21m (£15.3m) to date – seven times its budget. In the UK, the film reached No 4 at the box office, with takings of £948,731, beating the week’s big release, Jason Statham action film Shelter (£946,903).

Melania follows the 20 days leading up to her husband Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025.

Since its release, reviews have been largely negative, with the film sitting at a measly 10 per cent on the platform. However, viewers on the site have given the documentary a 99 percent score, in an apparent demonstration of support for Trump.

In a one-star review for The Independent, Nick Hilton wrote: “Perhaps Melania is merely a piece of post-modern post-entertainment. After all, it is transparently not a documentary.”

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day

New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day

Advertisement

New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Hilton continues: “Melania spends most scenes playing a staged version of herself, and shots of the first lady are composed with all the deliberateness Ratner brought to his work on X-Men: The Last Stand. This is somewhere between reality TV and pure fiction.”

Councillors in Stokesley have this week renewed their call for a banking hub in the town, warning that residents and businesses are being left behind as bank branch closures continue across the region.

Liberal Democrat councillors Bryn Griffiths and Chris Johnson spoke out after Santander announced its Northallerton branch would close on May 6.

The Santander branch in Northallerton will close on May 6. Photo: LDRS.

The closure is one of 44 announced by the company.

With Santander’s branch in Stokesley closing last year, its customers will be directed to Darlington or Stockton in future.

The councillors say the situation regarding bank closures has worsened sharply since a banking hub proposal for Stokesley was previously explored and rejected in March 2025.

At this point, the town still had an operating Santander branch and a 24-hour cash machine on the High Street.

Both have since gone.

Cllr Griffiths said: “The closure in Northallerton is shocking news — yet another nail in the coffin for high streets in market towns.

“Yet again, both the public and businesses are being let down by the banks. Banks should not be allowed to close without having a banking hub already in place, to deal with non-cash and face-to-face transactions.”

Banking Hubs are shared facilities funded by major high street banks and delivered through Cash Access UK.

They allow customers of multiple banks to access essential services, including cash withdrawals and deposits and in-person support.

Cllr Johnson raised the need for a banking hub at North Yorkshire Council in December, securing the support of councillors at the Richmond area committee.

He has also visited the Richmond Banking Hub, speaking directly to staff and customers to see how the model works in practice.

He said: “My visit to the Richmond Banking Hub confirmed exactly what we already know — this is the solution Stokesley needs.

Market towns must retain essential services like banking if they are to remain viable.

“We need this Banking Hub and we need it fast. We are working with Stokesley Town Council to drive this forward.”

Picture quality is what Philips is aiming for, and this is one of the best-looking OLED TVs that you can buy. It has an advantage over Samsung, Sony and LG in that it supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats for great HDR results, regardless of the source. Philips has put extra effort into making scenes come to life with bright highlights and vibrant colours.

There’s support for Filmmaker Mode, which is comfortably watchable on this TV. This can be too dark on some models and I’ve needed the “Movie” Motion Style to remove judder, but the Philips OLED+950 presents this content as the director intended.

The picture processing can push things to be brighter, sharper and, in some cases, ultra-real, through the HDR Crystal Clear mode, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Crystal Clear offers a cooler picture with brighter highlights and more contrast. I watched Guardians of the Galaxy in this mode and the action jumped off the screen.

Watching sci-fi series The Expanse, highlights were distractingly bright, with details like a white shirt losing all texture. In short, choose the picture mode with care and be prepared to switch, and take advantage of the settings to control how you want the picture to look.

There’s loads of contrast with great handling of dark scenes. It’s great for daytime viewing, with an effective anti-reflective finish to the screen, just not quite as good as Samsung’s glare-killing matte finish on its top TVs.

Both HDR and SDR (like broadcast TV) look excellent, with skilled upscaling of lower quality content.

Sound

Score: 8/10

Standard tickets closer to the stage have appeared on resale sites like StubHub and Viagogo for up to £850 each for the SSE Arena event at the end of February

Tickets for the sellout BetMGM Premier League Darts event at the SSE Arena in Belfast later this month are being sold for up to £850 each on resale platforms online.

World champion Luke Littler will aim to take the Premier League title from Luke Humphries this year, with the Belfast leg of the tournament to be held on February 26th.

Tickets for the event sold out during the pre-sale period three months ago, and fans wishing to either purchase or re-sell tickets can do so via official Ticketmaster resale.

Standard tickets were originally sold for between £50-£83 for the event but were snapped up fast. At the time of publication, no tickets for the Belfast event are available on the official Ticketmaster resale platform. The only tickets left officially are hospitality tickets which start at £299. That includes pre-show hospitality, dining, and meet and greet with players at Titanic Belfast.

Advertisement

However, regular tickets are now available on resale platforms like StubHub and Viagogo for eye-watering prices.

Stageside tickets can be bought on StubHub for £847, that is at a table in row four. There are also tickets available in the same site elsewhere in the arena for £489 each.

The prices on Viagogo are slightly cheaper but still up to 10 times over their face value. Viagogo have ‘front row’ tickets priced at £647, with only a handful remaining. Tickets dotted all around the arena on their site are priced anywhere from £174 to £313 each.

Late last year, the UK government began implementing legislation to make it illegal to resell tickets for live events for more than their original face value, including capping service fees on resale platforms. According to GOV.UK, tickets can only be sold for their original cost plus unavoidable fees.

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) don’t make any comment around specific tickets but they do have a policy of cancelling tickets that can be identified if they are being resold above face value. Those are then placed back on general sale.

That happened extensively around the World Championship and recent World Masters. However, the process of identifying tickets is difficult and not helped by the resale platforms.

“The PDC only sells tickets directly through its official outlets and warns against purchasing from other sources, however official they claim to be,” say the PDC. “Tickets are sold subject to terms and conditions, which include agreement by buyers that tickets will not be re-sold whether at face value or otherwise.

“The PDC shall be entitled to cancel any tickets that have been re-sold or offered for re-sale. The PDC therefore cautions purchasers of re-sold tickets that they may be denied entry into events.

“The PDC shall be entitled to blacklist any ticket holders found to have re-sold tickets or to have offered tickets for re-sale. The relevant individual’s details may be circulated to all PDC official ticket offices. In appropriate circumstances, details may be passed to the Police.

“We welcome reports of tickets that are being offered for sale through third-parties so that we can ensure that tickets are sold through the correct channels and that tickets on re-sale are removed from sale immediately.”

The PDC added: “Receipts from tickets which are re-sold by the PDC through official channels will be donated to charities and good causes through the Matchroom Sport Foundation.”