All posts tagged: flop

Melania Trump Is Giving Documentaries Another Try Despite Her Film’s Flop

Melania Trump Is Giving Documentaries Another Try Despite Her Film’s Flop

Published by Sam Flores

For Melania Trump, a flop isn’t a reason to give up. Despite the disappointing results of her first documentary, Melania—which reportedly grossed just under $17 million, while Amazon MGM Studios reportedly spent nearly $75 million—the First Lady has decided to try again. This time, it’s a multi-episode documentary series, expected to premiere on Prime Video next fall. The announcement was made by Marc Beckman, Melania’s exclusive senior advisor, during a Real America’s Voice appearance. While the first film followed the former model for about 20 days, offering a glimpse into “her private life, her marriage, her family,” per Beckman, this new series promises a “completely different” approach. Viewers will get a behind-the-scenes look at the early days of the 47th presidential administration. This new project is expected to resonate with Melania’s most loyal admirers, particularly among her supporters in Florida. The first documentary, in fact, earned a 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, driven largely by her most ardent followers. Around Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, where Donald Trump has owned his famous estate since 1985, …

Etsy Is In Its Flop Era, and Sellers Are Fleeing

Etsy Is In Its Flop Era, and Sellers Are Fleeing

Published by skeptic

In 2017, Emily Olson, a stay-at-home mom based in Boulder, Colorado, started selling prints and custom-made puppy portraits on Etsy. Her watercolors were simple and relatively cheap—images of saucer-eyed corgis and malamutes in mini-tuxes, which she sold for $75 to $300 each—but dog owners adored them: “They were a labor of love,” she says. In 2021, she says she made more than $40,000 off her Etsy store, and her social media following ballooned to 180,000 followers on YouTube. But in 2022, she noticed something odd: Her sales started precipitously declining. Competitors flooded the platform, and she kept finding copies of her work on drop-shipping sites like Alibaba, where they were advertised as original creations. Then there were the AI-generated pet portraits, which were supplanting her listings in search results and selling for a fraction of the price. The most frustrating part, she says, was that the AI-generated portraits were getting great reviews. “People were like, ‘Oh, this is the cutest image, I love it in my daughter’s bedroom.’ They didn’t really know or care who …

Lauren Sanchéz’s Met Gala flop proves money still can’t buy you cool

Lauren Sanchéz’s Met Gala flop proves money still can’t buy you cool

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more In the run-up to the Met Gala, it is usually the outfit choice of the likes of Beyoncé, Rihanna or some other mononymous pop icon that is the subject of pre-emptive intrigue and anticipation. But this year, the most speculated-about look was the one that would be worn by a very different kind of cultural figure: Lauren Sanchéz Bezos, the 56-year-old wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. This sort of attention is inevitable when you and your multibillionaire tech bro husband dish out a rumoured $10m (£7.4m) to sponsor the biggest night in the fashion calendar. When, in advance of the event, protesters project slogans such as “If You Can Buy the Met Gala, You Can Pay More Taxes” and “Boycott the Bezos Met …

Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop

Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop

Published by skeptic

Apple has all but given up on the Vision Pro after the M5 model failed to revitalize interest in the device, MacRumors has learned. Apple updated the Vision Pro with a faster M5 chip and a more comfortable band in October 2025, but there were no other hardware changes, and consumers still weren’t interested. The Vision Pro has been criticized for its high price tag and its uncomfortable weight. The device is over 1.3 pounds, and even with the more comfortable Dual Knit Band that Apple added to redistribute weight, it continues to be hard to wear for long periods of time. The M5 chip added a 120Hz refresh rate, 10 percent more rendered pixels, and around 30 additional minutes of battery life, but the price tag stayed at $3,499, and it ended up not selling well. The Vision Pro has been unpopular since it first launched, and Apple only sold around 600,000 units in total. Insider sources told MacRumors that Apple has received an unusually high percentage of returns, far exceeding any other modern …

The Devil Wears Prada 2 isn’t the flop many feared, first reactions suggest

The Devil Wears Prada 2 isn’t the flop many feared, first reactions suggest

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter To the pleasant surprise of many, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is being praised by early viewers as “charming” and “delightful.” The highly anticipated sequel to the beloved 2006 classic was screened by several members of the press Monday night, days before its official debut in theaters May 1. Featuring the return of the original main cast — including Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci — the sequel follows diabolical fashion editor Miranda Priestley (Streep) as she clashes with her former assistant-turned-rival executive Emily Charlton (Blunt) over limited advertising dollars in the declining world of print journalism. Hathaway reprises her role as Andy Sachs, Miranda’s former assistant, while Tucci returns as Miranda’s right-hand man, Nigel Kipling. Especially in an era of unnecessary revivals and reboots, there has been concern that The Devil Wears Prada 2 might fall into …

Gattuso resigns as Italy coach after World Cup flop

Gattuso resigns as Italy coach after World Cup flop

Published by Sam Flores

STRANGE CHOICE Gattuso was considered by many a strange choice to replace Spalletti due to his spotty club coaching record, and he was heavily criticised after Tuesday’s elimination. Italy were second best nearly the whole game, and completely conceded the initiative when Alessandro Bastoni was sent off not long before half-time. Bosnia could easily have won the game in normal time, but once Italy managed to get to the shoot-out, Gattuso selected inexperienced Pio Esposito to take the first penalty, which the 20-year-old smashed over the bar. The upheaval caused by failing to qualify for this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico, means the national team will have an interim coach for a friendly with Greece on Jun 7. Two former national team coaches, Roberto Mancini, who led Italy to victory at Euro 2020, and Antonio Conte, are the names most frequently cited as Gattuso’s replacement. But no new coach will be announced until after the FIGC’s board votes on a new president on Jun 22, Gravina falling on his sword a …

‘Uncanny Valley’: Iran’s Threats on US Tech, Trump’s Plans for Midterms, and Polymarket’s Pop-up Flop

‘Uncanny Valley’: Iran’s Threats on US Tech, Trump’s Plans for Midterms, and Polymarket’s Pop-up Flop

Published by skeptic

Kate Knibbs: So, you went twice? Makena Kelly: Yes, Kate. I went twice. Kate Knibbs: I missed that. Zoë Schiffer: Wait, is the Pentagon Pizza thing a joke about the pizza predicting the war? Makena Kelly: Yeah. Zoë Schiffer: Oh, my God. Makena Kelly: Because they had these Pentagon pizza trackers up. When I returned the second night, yes, I came back the second night. Everything was working for the most part. There were still some screens that were turned off, but I never saw any actual Bloomberg terminals. There were some monitory Bloomberg type terminal things that it looked like Polymarket had developed themselves, but the real $50,000 Bloomberg terminal was nowhere to be found. And yeah, the second night, again, it was mostly people looking to gawk at the event, except I did find a couple of people who placed some bets on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. One was named William, and he said he was a member of the military, wouldn’t give me his full name. And he last year got …

Cindy Sherman’s Horror Movie Flop Is Back. Is the World Ready?

Cindy Sherman’s Horror Movie Flop Is Back. Is the World Ready?

Published by José Betancourt

Photographer Cindy Sherman has made just one feature film to date—Office Killer, a 1997 box-office flop that was unloved by critics, such as the New York Times’s Stephen Holden, who called the movie “sadly inept” and “crude.” I agree, at least, on the “crude” part: in one scene, the film’s star Carol Kane plays with a violated corpse’s guts. Once she’s smeared them around the corpse’s opened chest cavity for long enough, she then tries to stick them back into place using Scotch Tape. It’s gross, but that’s the point. Before Office Killer, Sherman was better-known for her “Untitled Film Stills,” a series of photographs from ’70s in which the artist poses in settings that appear to be excerpted from B-movies and pulp fiction. The year before the film was released, MoMA paid $1 million for a full set of the black-and-white pictures, which remain her most famous pieces. But during the ’80s and ’90s, Sherman spent much of her time making pictures that looked quite unlike her iconic work: they were filled with vomit, mold, and dismembered limbs (belonging to anatomical dolls, not …

Melania’s non-documentary might end up a box office flop – but she won’t mind | UK News

Melania’s non-documentary might end up a box office flop – but she won’t mind | UK News

Published by Daniella Wilson

“Purposeful storytelling” is how Melania Trump herself describes what audiences will find in her cinematic debut. In many ways, that sums this film up. While Amazon paid an eye-watering fee for the documentary, don’t expect a warts-and-all unflinching record of what the first lady did in the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration. The trailer alone is glamorous, funny and clearly carefully curated. Her own team say she had strong creative input into the film and, as one of the executive producers, it’s likely the deal came with final cut approval. Image: U.S. first lady Melania Trump waves as she promotes Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming film Melania at the New York Stock Exchange. Pic: Reuters “Some have called this a documentary, it is not,” she said in a speech at the film’s premiere. “My film is a very deliberate act of authorship. Inviting you to witness events and emotions through a window of rich imagery. “It is a created experience that offers perspectives, insights, and moments that only few have seen.” And …