For a long time, Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi film Megalopolis found no takers. Now the self-financed epic is threatening to become a mega-flop. At least financially
One of the most exciting and eagerly awaited films of the year is the sci-fi epic Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather). But whatever the content of the movie starring Adam Driver, it almost can’t possibly be more exciting than the increasingly dramatic production story leading up to its theatrical release, which is at least finally set to go ahead this month.
Until this year, most US distributors were still afraid to include the megalomaniacal project, financed with several hundred million from their own pockets, in their portfolios. Fears that, according to some current projections, were not unjustified
Sci-fi epic Megalopolis threatens to become a mega-flop for directorial legend
Will Megalopolis become Megaflopolis? At least that’s what two major Hollywood research firms believe, predicting disastrous figures for Coppola’s pet project according to the Hollywood Reporter . According to them, the domestic box office should prepare itself for a narrow opening of just 5 to 9 million US dollars at the box office. The director has already forked out a private fortune of 120 million for the budget – and that was before the costs of the marketing campaign that Lionsgate is currently managing.
Lionsgate’s marketing managers will hardly have been happy about the mixed reviews from Cannes or the negative headlines that have emerged in recent months regarding Francis Ford Coppola’s questionable behavior on set. According to Variety, the filmmaker is said to have created a chaotic atmosphere and also behaved in a harassing manner towards women. Coppola denied these allegations.
In addition, the latest Megalopolis trailer had to be recalled after it emerged that old movie review quotes from Coppola’s past were fictitious (or AI-generated). The updated preview was released just this week and looks like this:
