• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 2 hours ago

Advertising for films with a wry sense of humor doesn’t always work to pull in the crowds -- or for film producers when a local theater uses some rogue humor.

One local, independent Oregon theater decided to promote the Amazon MGM biographical documentary about First Lady Melania Trump and the 20 days before President Donald Trump's second term began with a well-known line from the famed book “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu -- something you might see applied to hardcore action films, political thrillers, or superhero movies.

On its theater marquee outside the theater, it posted this message: “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. 'Melania’ starts Friday.”

Not everyone appreciated the message -- especially Amazon, the film’s producer. They asked the Lake Theater & Cafe in Lake Oswego to remove the message on the marquee, in addition to pulling all screenings.

“The studio was not happy and/or did not appreciate my take on marketing their film to our own public,” Jordan Perry, the theater’s manager, told The Oregonian.

The theater also made another attempt at humor for the movie: “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday.”

Was satirizing the somewhat serious storyline in the movie the intent? Well, the theater has a long-held reputation for its sly, tongue-in-cheek advertising with all kinds of movies.

After Perry relented and took down the messages, he replaced them with something Amazon might view as more favorable: “Amazon called. Our marquee made them mad. All “Melania” showings cancelled. Show your support at Whole Foods instead.”

And then it went a bit further: “Join Amazon Prime for Free Two-Day Shipping.”

This kind of messaging ran counter to its somewhat less defined Amazon-approved national TV/film trailer advertising campaign copyline themes: “Witness History in the Making"; "Twenty Days to History" and "Everyone wants to know. So here it is."

Amazon MGM spent $35 million in marketing the film, which played in 1,778 theaters with worldwide box-office revenue now at $9.5 million after one week of its release, according to IMDb’s Box Office Mojo.

TV Watch believes the same “Art of War” line may have worked better in TV commercials, with an over-the-top, comedic voiceover -- perhaps with Melania Trump playing along.

The "enemy" of the movie? That could be critics. The film posted a 5% score on Rotten Tomatoes, among the lowest-rated documentaries in history.

At the same time, overall marketing did pull in plenty of politically conservative theatergoers, according to analysts.

As a result, CinemaScore’s audience measurement gave it an “A”.

As the movie marketing expression goes, all this worked. There were butts in seats.