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Megalopolis

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Megalopolis is a 2024 American epic science fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. The film stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman. Set in an alternate, 21st-century New York City (restyled "New Rome"), it follows visionary architect Cesar Catilina (Driver) as he clashes with the corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Esposito), who opposes Catalina's plans to revitalize New Rome by building the futuristic utopia "Megalopolis." The film heavily references Roman history, particularly the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BC and the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

In 1977, Coppola had the idea to make a film drawing parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and the future of the United States by retelling the Catilinarian conspiracy in modern-day New York. Although he began plotting the film in 1983, the project spent decades in development hell. Coppola attempted to produce the film in 1989 and 2001, but each time, the studios refused to finance the film, due to Coppola's string of late-career box-office disappointments and the September 11 attacks, respectively. Disillusioned by the studio system, Coppola did not produce Megalopolis until he built a large fortune in the winemaking business.[4] He spent at least $120 million of his own money to make the film. Principal photography took place in Georgia from November 2022 to March 2023.

The film reunited Coppola with past collaborators, including actors Esposito, Fishburne, Remar, Shire, and Sweeney, cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr., second-unit director Roman Coppola, and composer Osvaldo Golijov. Like several other Coppola films, Megalopolis had a troubled production. Coppola adopted an experimental style, encouraging his actors to improvise and write certain scenes during the shoot, and adding his own last-minute changes to the script. The art department and visual effects team, among others, left midway through production.

Megalopolis was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, but polarized critics and Hollywood studios. Coppola could not find a studio that would both reimburse his production costs and pay for a large marketing campaign. He opted to self-fund his own marketing campaign, with Lionsgate theatrically releasing the film in the United States. It endured a troubled run-up to release: a trailer was removed for using fabricated pull quotes, and Coppola sued trade publication Variety for libel after it published allegations of sexual misconduct by him on set. The film premiered at Cannes on May 16, 2024 and was released on September 27, 2024. It has grossed $10 million wordwide.

Plot[]

In an alternate United States, New Rome is dominated by an elite group of patrician families. Although the Roman elite professes to live by a strict moral code, patricians decadently enjoy forbidden pleasures while ordinary Romans live in poverty.

Patrician architect Cesar Catilina is one of New Rome's leading lights. Cesar wins the Nobel Prize for inventing the revolutionary building material Megalon. In addition, he secretly has the ability to stop time. He treats his superpower as a metaphor for the artistic process: when Cesar stops time, everyone else remains frozen.

Despite Cesar's worldly success, he has fallen into alcoholism. Years earlier, his wife mysteriously disappeared, and District Attorney Franklyn Cicero prosecuted him for murdering her. Although Cesar was acquitted, he remains crushed by guilt, believing that his wife committed suicide because he was too focused on his work. Cesar still pines for his wife, prompting his jealous mistress, TV presenter Wow Platinum, to leave him.

At a televised event, Cesar and now-Mayor Cicero offer different visions for the city's future. Cesar proposes using Megalon to build "Megalopolis," a utopian urbanist community, while Cicero argues that a casino will provide immediate tax revenue. During the event, Cesar meets Cicero's well-read, but purposeless, daughter Julia. They initially dislike each other, but Cesar impresses Julia with his vision for Megalopolis, explaining that New Rome needs a grand artistic vision to free itself from its political inertia and unlock its full potential. Julia intrigues Cesar by showing that she is the only person who can still move when Cesar stops time. They become lovers.

Wow marries Cesar's uncle Hamilton Crassus III, the world's richest man. Although Crassus likes his nephew, his mind and health are in decline, and he is easily manipulated by individuals like his other nephew, Clodio Pulcher, who wants to inherit the Crassus bank. Crassus and Wow throw a decadent wedding reception. Ironically, the headliner is pop star Vesta Sweetwater, who appeals to New Rome's puritanical sensibilities by promising to remain chaste until marriage. To neutralize Cesar, Pulcher leaks a paparazzi video of Cesar having sex with Vesta, prompting Cicero to condemn Cesar in a speech drawn from the real-life Catilinarian orations. Although Cicero arrests Cesar for statutory rape, Julia exonerates Cesar by discovering that Vesta faked her age and is actually in her twenties.

Soviet satellite Carthage crashes to Earth, destroying much of New Rome. Cesar begins building Megalopolis in the ruins, financing the project with his family fortune. In a press conference, he makes the case for bold artistic projects that show the people a better world is possible. However, the high cost of building Megalopolis contrasts with poverty on the streets. Pulcher becomes a populist politician, encouraging ordinary Romans to oppose Megalopolis as an expensive folly. The allure of power draws Pulcher from populism to fascist demagoguery.

A pregnant Julia tries to broker peace between Cesar and Cicero by taking her father to see the Megalopolis construction site. However, Cicero is unimpressed with Cesar's utopianism. He begs Cesar to leave Julia. In exchange, he offers Cesar valuable blackmail material: a confession that Cicero knew Cesar's wife committed suicide and maliciously prosecuted Cesar anyway. Cesar declines.

Wow tries to force Cesar to leave Julia and marry her by freezing Cesar's account at the Crassus bank. She enlists Pulcher to manipulate Crassus into handing over control of the bank. When Crassus learns of Pulcher's duplicity, he has a stroke and collapses. Pulcher hires an assassin to kill Cesar, but Cesar's doctors use Megalon to rebuild his skull.

Cesar and Cicero become allies after rioting Pulcher supporters attempt to storm Megalopolis and City Hall. Pulcher and Wow taunt the bedridden Crassus, but Crassus kills Wow and injures Pulcher with a hidden bow and arrow disguised as his erection. Cesar confronts the rioters, pleading with them to believe in his vision of a better future. His speech wins over the crowd, whose members hang Pulcher upside down.

With renewed financial support from Crassus, Cesar finally s Megalopolis. Cicero, holding Julia and Cesar's baby daughter, Sunny Hope, promises to help Cesar build a better future. On New Year's Eve, the family learns that Sunny Hope is also unaffected by time stops.

Cast[]

  • Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, a futuristic architect and the Chairman of the Design Authority in New Rome, blessed with the ability to stop time[5]
  • Giancarlo Esposito as Mayor Franklyn Cicero, the arch-conservative mayor of New Rome[5]
  • Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia Cicero, Cesar's love interest and Cicero's daughter[5]
  • Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum, a TV presenter specializing in financial news who desires money and power[5]
  • Shia LaBeouf as Clodio Pulcher, Cesar's jealous cousin[1][5]
  • Jon Voight as Hamilton Crassus III, Cesar's wealthy uncle and the head of Crassus National Bank[5][6]
  • Laurence Fishburne as Fundi Romaine (the film's narrator), Cesar's driver and assistant[7]
  • Jason Schwartzman as Jason Zanderz, a member of Cicero's entourage[8]
  • Kathryn Hunter as Teresa Cicero, Cicero's wife[8]
  • Dustin Hoffman as Nush Berman, Cicero's fixer[8]
  • Talia Shire as Constance Crassus Catilina, Cesar's mother[8]
  • Grace VanderWaal as Vesta Sweetwater, a virginal teen pop star[5]
  • Chloe Fineman as Clodia Pulcher[9]
  • James Remar as Charles Cothope[9]
  • D. B. Sweeney as Commissioner Stanley Hart[9]
  • Isabelle Kusman as Claudine Pulcher[9]
  • Bailey Ives as Huey Wilkes[9]
  • Madeleine Gardella as Claudette Pulcher[1]
  • Balthazar Getty as Aram Kazanjian, Clodio's right-hand man[8]
  • Romy Mars as a reporter[10]
  • Haley Sims as Sunny Hope Catilina[9]

Themes[]

Megalopolis was inspired by the Catilinarian conspiracy. In Cesare Maccari's 1888 painting of the incident, Catiline (right) is depicted sitting alone, deserted by his followers, while Cicero (standing on the left) publicly humiliates him.

Megalopolis was inspired by the Catilinarian conspiracy. In Cesare Maccari's 1888 painting of the incident, Catiline (right) is depicted sitting alone, deserted by his followers, while Cicero (standing on the left) publicly humiliates him.

Rome's example for America[]

Megalopolis is both a modern retelling of the Catilinarian conspiracy and a revisionist look at the source material. Coppola described the film as a commentary on the American political system, reasoning that the Roman analogy was appropriate because the American Founding Fathers borrowed from Roman law to develop their democratic government without a king. He specifically noted that America was vulnerable to the same political forces and tensions that destroyed the Roman Republic and created the Empire. This was not the first time Coppola had sought to modernize a historical narrative: he had previously updated the colonial-Africa setting of Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War for Apocalypse Now.

According to the traditional narrative, Catiline was a populist seditionist who plotted to overthrow the Roman Republic after losing the election for consul three times. Catiline gained a following by promising to cancel all debts for rich and poor alike, but Cicero, the conservative head of the Roman government, discovered the plot and drove Catiline out of the city with an incendiary speech in the Senate (First Catilinarian Oration). Catiline's supporters raised an army to overthrow Cicero. To defend the Republic, Cicero convinced the Senate to give him temporary emergency powers (the senatus consultum ultimum), which allowed him to execute some of Catiline's co-conspirators without due process. Cicero's aggressive actions scared off most of Catiline's remaining supporters. His forces outnumbered, Catiline was killed at the Battle of Pistoria. After the end of the conspiracy, populist politician Publius Clodius Pulcher charged Cicero with overreach, and successfully exiled Cicero from Rome for a period. In response, Cicero defended his actions by publishing his four Catilinarian Orations in edited form. Although Catiline himself died, the conspiracy and its aftermath showed deep fissures in the Roman Republic. Ultimately, an occasional ally of Catiline – the populist senator Julius Caesar – succeeded where Caitiline had failed, taking advantage of political chaos to become dictator of Rome, and paving the way for the Roman Empire.

In 1999, Coppola pitched the film by drawing parallels between the Catilinarian conspiracy and the present-day United States. He warned that Catiline-esque plotters could try to overthrow the American government just as Catiline tried to overthrow Rome, saying, "Rome became a fascist Empire. Is that what we're going to become?" However, in his production notes written a quarter-century later, Coppola explained that at the time, he had not yet written a script and his views reflected the traditional narrative of the conspiracy.

Coppola rethought the analogy as Megalopolis languished in development hell. He concluded that Roman histories of the Catilinarian conspiracy were largely based on Cicero's own retelling of the incident, and questioned whether Cicero, a political conservative, had simply concoted an excuse to crush the populist policies backed by Catiline and Julius Caesar. During the Megalopolis press tour, Coppola explained that "since the survivor tells the story, I wondered, what if what Catiline had in mind for his new society was a realignment of those in power, and could it have even been 'visionary' and 'good,' while Cicero perhaps could have been 'reactionary' and 'bad[?]'" In Megalopolis, Coppola retells two of the real-life Cicero's accusations towards Catiline – that Catiline slept with a Vestal Virgin (a Roman priestess sworn to chastity)[11] and that Catiline murdered his first wife[12] – and acquits Cesar Catalina of both accusations. (According to Stanford University classicist Richard Saller, while the traditional narrative of the conspiracy is "Cicero centric," most historians – Robin Seager being a notable exception – reject the revisionist argument that "Cicero really manufactured the conspiracy.")

Artistic idealism as antidote to polarization[]

In 2008, Coppola stated that the character of Cesar Catilina would be inspired by the life of urban planner Robert Moses, who built much of the infrastructure of modern-day New York City, but was criticized for favoring wealthy political interests and ignoring the needs of New York's ethnic minorities. Coppola said that he wanted to imagine an "enlightened" version of Moses that preserved Moses' desire to build a better city.

Megalopolis argues that for a democracy to avoid falling into fascism, it needs a bold and inspirational vision for the future, which artists can help provide. In 1999, Coppola said that "Rome didn't fall for a long time. But how does an Empire die? It dies when its people no longer believe in it." In 2022, Coppola said his film would offer an optimistic look at humanity and the intuitive goodness in people even in a divided climate. He criticized his high school classmate Donald Trump for calling Mexicans rapists, saying that "dictators and populists stay in power by having you hate someone else. ... [P]eople are in the habit of saying all people are bad ... We're doing...better. We could be proud of being human beings."[13]

The film culminates with an impassioned speech by Cesar Catilina that convinces the masses to embrace the idea of Megalopolis. Writing in The New Yorker, Justin Chang noted that in light of Coppola's struggle to make the film without studio interference, "what is inescapably moving about 'Megalopolis' ... is the degree to which it has evolved into an allegory of its own making. Coppola has made a defense of the beautiful and the impractical ... as art-sustaining forces in the cinema itself. ... [T]he mere fact that it exists, in its breathtaking and sometimes exasperating singularity, feels like an expression of hope." For his own part, Coppola acknowledged the importance of visionary thinking but dismissed the idea that Catilina's Megalopolis project should offer a specific version of the future, reasoning that "[Utopia] is not a place. Utopia is a discussion."

Art versus politics[]

In addition to Moses, Coppola based the character of Cesar Catilina and his invention of Megalon on the novels of Ayn Rand. Catilina specifically resembles two Rand characters who struggle to implement their ideas in the face of the dominant political establishment, which may be either conservative or left-wing. In The Fountainhead, modernist architect Howard Roark struggles to be taken seriously by a conservative artistic establishment that insists on aping the architecture of ancient Rome. In Atlas Shrugged, visionary inventor Hank Rearden creates a high-performance metal alloy, which is subsequently nationalized by a left-wing government. Megalopolis depicts Cesar Catilina's modernist utopia under simultaneous attack by the left and the right: Cicero's conservatives reject Catilina's bold vision as fanciful, while Pulcher's leftists deride Catilina's ideas as pointlessly extravagant. Writing in The New York Times, Ross Douthat commented that "the central conflict isn't really left versus right .... Instead, [Megalopolis] pits [] Catilina ... against various forces representing inertia and sterility: the uncomprehending establishment and the ungrateful masses, ... all ranged against the man of genius."[14]

During the press tour, Coppola wrote that Cicero opposes Catilina because he is "committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare," and that Cicero's style of clothing "conveyed his rigid world view ... a balance of hubris, rage, and despair." Megalopolis' production notes explain that "while [Cicero] truly wants to save the city," political pressures "from all sides [have] made him blind to transformative ideas." Coppola compared Cicero to Ed Koch, the mayor of New York City in the 1980s; Koch was widely blamed for fumbling the government response to the AIDS epidemic.[15][16]

Although Coppola's press statements largely focused on Cicero over Pulcher, Den of Geek noted that Pulcher "serves as the Trump stand-in" and that "it's unclear if Coppola's trying to evoke the opulence of the Roman ruling classes or Trump's obsession with spray tans and hair-pieces or both." The Sweet East screenwriter Nick Pinkerton expressed concern that Pulcher's rapid recruitment of working-class populists implied that "the plebeians [are] easily manipulated rubes, a curious omission in a movie that's positioned as a humanist hymn to our species' higher potential."

Release[]

Distribution[]

Coppola saw Megalopolis in full for the first time on an IMAX screen at the headquarters of IMAX Corporation in Playa Vista, Los Angeles. The film used camera technology for certain sequences that could cover an entire IMAX screen. On March 28, 2024, a private screening was presented to distributors at the Universal CityWalk IMAX Theater in Hollywood. Coppola and his longtime attorney Barry Hirsch, a producer on the film, said they would not decide where to debut the film until they secured a distribution partner and a firm rollout plan.[17] However, the "muted" response to the screening made securing a distributor difficult. Studios weighed the return on investment, as Coppola expected a print-and-advertising (P&A) campaign of $80–100 million and for producers to receive half of the film's revenues.[18] A distribution veteran suggested that "If [Coppola] is willing to put up the P&A or backstop the spend, I think there would be a lot more interested parties."

Coppola's plan to forgo a sales agent was, thus, altered, with Goodfellas handling international sales; Le Pacte, for France, became the first to acquire distribution rights to a foreign market in late April.[19][20] Variety noted that individual territories were not given rights to paid video on demand or streaming options, "perhaps by design to lure a big streaming service" into buying the streaming rights after its theatrical run. On May 15, Variety reported on sources that said Coppola was seeking an "awards-savvy distributor," such as A24, to release Megalopolis in the fourth quarter of 2024 so it could have an awards season campaign, but that "some potential indie outfits" who saw the film did not envision "much Oscars potential beyond technical categories and fear[ed] that Coppola [would] be an overly demanding partner."[21]

Francis Ford Coppola leaving the press conference for his film Megalopolis at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Coppola in Cannes the day after the film's premiere in May 2024

On May 16, 2024, the 138-minute film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or.[22][23][24] During the film's Cannes press conference, Coppola criticized the studio system and likened a streaming option to a home video release, saying, "I fear that the film industry has become more a matter of people being hired to ... pay their debt obligations ... So it might be that the studios we knew for so long are not [going] to be here in the future anymore."[25][26] That same day, it secured a limited global IMAX release, including in at least 20 cities in the United States regardless of distributor.[27] On June 17, Lionsgate Films acquired domestic distribution rights, scheduling a release for September 27, 2024. They previously worked on the home video releases of the director's cuts of Coppola's films, beginning in 2010.[28][29] The deal came after Coppola agreed to pay for most of the marketing costs, estimated to be $15–17 million.[30]

The film also screened at Roy Thomson Hall on September 9 and the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto on September 10 as part of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, in addition to the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 24.[31][32][33] On September 23, the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York hosted an advance screening as part of the New York Film Festival; in addition to screening the film, 65 IMAX locations also broadcast live the event's half-hour Q&A with Coppola and guests Robert De Niro and Spike Lee.[34][35][36] On October 14, 2024, Cinecittà will host the film's Italian premiere, which will be streamed live at the Auditorium Parco della Musica's Sala Petrassi as the pre-opening of the 19th Rome Film Festival.[37]

The private industry screening and multiple festival premieres, including Cannes, had a person walk on stage in front of the projection screen and address the protagonist, Cesar, who seemingly breaks the fourth wall by replying in real time.[38] Jean Labadie, founder of the film's French distributor, Le Pacte, said in regards to replicating the moment, "We will work on that with every exhibitor in France to try to do it as many times as we can."[39] Lionsgate made a similar pledge in regards to the fourth wall break;[40] at least 60 select theaters recruited performers for screenings labeled "The Ultimate Experience" to accomplish the scene.[41] Coppola had initially worked with Amazon's support team in 2021 to accomplish the fourth wall break by developing a custom version of Alexa's voice-recognition software that would have allowed audiences to ask Driver's character a question about the plot, to which "Alexa would choose the most relevant answer from a pre-approved list." However, the partnership did not occur due to layoffs at Amazon in 2022. Driver suggested having a cinema usher ask a pre-agreed question instead.[42]

Although Coppola, by virtue of financing the film himself, presumably had full creative freedom, editor Cam McLauchlin alluded to a director's cut in the film's production notes. McLauchlin said that after the director's cut was produced, it took another eight months before Coppola signed off on the final cut.

Marketing[]

Tie-ins and documentary[]

Image Comics and Syzygy Publishing distributed a graphic novel tie-in to the film written by Chris Ryall with artwork by Jacob Phillips.[43] Ryall had direct input and liberty from Coppola, while Phillips said he was "drawing this book (on and off) since December 2022" and wrapped his part of the 148-page comic adaptation in July 2024; the screenplay and concept art served as foundations for the novel.[44] Colleen McCullough, whose book series Masters of Rome partially inspired Megalopolis, wrote the novelization before she died in 2015.[45] The novels accompanied the film's release, along with a behind-the-scenes fly-on-the-wall documentary, Megadoc, by Mike Figgis that features interviews with cast members, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Coppola's late wife Eleanor Coppola, who died in April 2024 and who Megalopolis is dedicated to.[46][47] Coppola clarified that "all three projects are independent" of him but based on his "many scripts and ideas over the decades."[48]

Promotional materials[]

On August 16, 2024, Lionsgate announced a partnership with the company Utopia (co-founded by Coppola's nephew, Robert Schwartzman)[49] on the stateside theatrical release, with the latter working on "specialty marketing, word-of-mouth, and non-traditional theatrical distribution initiatives" to target filmgoers.[50] On August 20, Lionsgate shared a theatrical poster that featured Driver's character holding a t-square vertically. Roger Friedman of Showbiz411 felt the tool's resemblance to a lightsaber may have been intentional, given Driver's role as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015–2019).[51]

On August 21, Lionsgate released a trailer that opened with snippets of negative reviews for Coppola's The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker's Dracula followed by 90 seconds of footage from Megalopolis, all accompanied by Fishburne's narration that "True genius is often misunderstood" and "One filmmaker has always been ahead of his time" before naming the film "an event nothing can prepare you for." The unconventional tactic, according to Rolling Stone's Daniel Kreps, attempted to combat the film's mixed reception at Cannes by pointing out "similarly misguided critical assessments of Coppola's previous masterpieces."[52] Oli Welsh of Polygon called it "defensive," with the implication that viewers "should ignore the reviews and go see it before it is inevitably reevaluated as a visionary classic,"[53] while Mary Kate Carr from The A.V. Club described it as "pretty clever," noting that it highlighted similarities between Coppola and the film's protagonist.[54]

However, Vulture's Bilge Ebiri verified that the blurbs cited in the trailer were fabricated, including those credited to Vincent Canby, Roger Ebert, Owen Gleiberman, Pauline Kael, Stanley Kauffmann, Rex Reed, Andrew Sarris, and John Simon. While some of their opinions were indeed negative, excluding Kael's positive review for The Godfather and Ebert's for Dracula, the quotes were fake. In Ebert's case, his quote calling a film a "triumph of style over substance" was misattributed from his review for Batman (1989).[55][56] Consequently, Lionsgate took down the trailer, which had accumulated 1.3 million views, the same day they published it and issued an apology.[57][58] Two days later, they fired Eddie Egan, the marketing consultant who delivered the quotes, citing "an error in properly vetting and fact-checking the phrases." Variety suggested that the quotes may have been produced by generative artificial intelligence after prompting ChatGPT for negative criticism of Coppola's work from well-known critics and receiving similar results.[59] Film critic Peter Debruge, also for Variety, compared the situation to when Sony Pictures invented the fictitious critic David Manning to advertise their films in 2000.[60]

The Hollywood Reporter found it unusual for a studio to publicly name a terminated employee; a Hollywood executive described Egan as a "low-key guy who never liked the spotlight. His entire life's work will now be defined on Google as the person who tried to game the system by creating misinformation." The publication also seemingly confirmed the use of an AI engine to generate the quotes and wondered why Egan was the only person blamed, writing, "The trailer was almost certainly vetted by a half-dozen others, including top brass at the studio and its marketing team, none of whom spotted the error, and they are keeping their jobs."[61] On September 5, Lionsgate posted a recut version of the trailer without the quotes, which Carr said was "largely pretty similar to the previous one."[62] On September 13, IGN shared a second, one-minute trailer.[63] Kaitlyn Booth of Bleeding Cool criticized the video's ambiguity in describing the plot, writing, "It seems that Lionsgate and whoever is behind this marketing has decided the best way to go about pitching a very complex film to the public is not to try and hope that the prestige from director Francis Ford Coppola will be enough."[64] Created by the duo Awkward Moments, the music for the ad features an 852 Hz frequency, which they claim "stimulates the third eye chakra...  a powerful tool for those seeking to expand their spiritual awareness and tap into higher levels of consciousness."[65] In September, Coppola created a Letterboxd account, shared a list of 16 films that inspired Megalopolis, and rated his film five stars on the app.[66]

Reception[]

Box office[]

As of October 8, 2024 (2024-10-08), Megalopolis has grossed $6.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $3.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $10 million.

In the United States and Canada, Megalopolis received a wide release alongside The Wild Robot. It was projected to gross $4–8 million from 1,854 theaters, including an estimated 200 IMAX locations, in its opening weekend.[67][68][69] Boxoffice Pro identified the film's target audience as cinephiles and said "working against" it were "middling reviews," "a career lull" (Coppola having directed two films in the last 15 years), and "a marketing push marred by controversy," referring to the misconduct allegations against Coppola and the trailer removed over its use of fake quotes. They mentioned that the film's "blockbuster cast" and IMAX release was "no guarantee of audience interest," given Driver's box-office disappointment in "high-concept sci-fi" with 65 the year prior and that the last Coppola–helmed movie to open above $5 million was Supernova (uncredited) in 2000.[67] Megalopolis shared IMAX screens with The Wild Robot before relinquishing them a week later to Joker: Folie à Deux; reserved for The Wild Robot were all showtimes up to primetime, with Megalopolis having evening IMAX showtimes in "key metropolitan locations."[69][70] Lionsgate was reportedly "not on the hook" for recovering production or marketing expenses after agreeing to distribute the film for a distribution fee and "some percentage points based on box office," meaning it would earn $3–5 million regardless of box office performance.[69]

The film made $1.8 million on its first day, including an estimated $770,000 from Monday and Thursday previews. It debuted to $4 million, finishing sixth at the box office.[71] As a result, several publications, including the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal, labeled the film a box-office disappointment.[72][73] IMAX and premium large-format screens accounted for 41% of the gross, with IMAX specifically earning $1.4 million (35%) of the opening. Audiences were 70% men, with 38% over 35 and 32% 25–34-year-olds, while the demos were 66% Caucasian, 18% Latino and Hispanic, 7% Asian, and 5% Black. The main reasons given in exit polling for seeing the film were Coppola (61%) and Driver (29%), while 32% bought tickets because they heard it was "entertaining and fun" and 9% because they heard it "was good." AMC Lincoln Square was the film's highest-grossing theater with earnings of $84,000 through Saturday. Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood compared the opening to other box-office flops, particularly as being more than the overall gross of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate ($3.5 million in 1980, unadjusted for inflation) but less than Kevin Costner's self-financed Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 ($11 million opening in 2024). It also made less than the fellow new release Devara: Part 1 ($5.6 million), which played in fewer theaters (1,040).[74] Marc Tracy of The New York Times likened the film to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's notorious box-office flop Cleopatra (1963), an "ambitious, big-budget spectacle that got out of hand during production and crashed upon contact with the viewing public." The New Yorker's Richard Brody urged readers to evaluate the film by its story rather than its revenue, "a determinant of what makes a good investment [but] not a determinant of what makes a good film."[75]

Critical response[]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100 based on 59 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[76] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak were 45% positive and gave it an average rating of one star.[77]The early industry screening resulted in divided reactions while some were mixed, though others were primarily of general bewilderment.[78] It was compared to the literary works of Ayn Rand, particularly The Fountainhead (1943), and the films Metropolis (1927) and Caligula (1979).[79][80][81] Many journalists expressed fascination regarding its success, labeling it a potential critical and box-office failure, while debating whether it could be Coppola's masterpiece.[82] Others criticized studio executives who anonymously lambasted it.[83][84] Coppola optimistically likened the polarizing responses to the initial reactions to Apocalypse Now and insinuated that "unnamed sources" being referenced did not exist.[85][86]

The film received a similarly polarized critical response at the Cannes Film Festival.[87] Variety's Matt Donnelly and Ellise Shafer summarized, "Though reactions have been mixed, the film was undoubtedly jam-packed with scenes that ranged from visionary to just plain puzzling."[88] David Ehrlich of IndieWire praised Coppola's hopeful envisioning of the future and "transcendent" narrative progression, calling it a "clunky, garish, and transcendently sincere manifesto about the role of an artist at the end of an empire".[89] Joshua Rothkopf of the Los Angeles Times described it as "an overstuffed, vigorous, seething story about the roots of fascism that only an uncharitable viewer would call a catastrophe" with moments "too divorced from reality," compared its portrayal of a city modeled after New York to Tom Wolfe's novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, and complimented the cast for "leaning into their moments with an abandon that was probably a job requirement."[90] The New York Times's Manohla Dargis also noted the "heightened" performances; she disagreed with Coppola's "old-fashioned ideas" about gender roles and technological determinism but commended his artistic ambition, defining Megalopolis as "a fascinating film aswirl with wild visions, lofty ideals, cinematic allusions, literary references, historical footnotes, and self-reflexive asides, all of which Coppola has funneled into a fairly straightforward story about a man with a plan."[91] Vulture's Bilge Ebiri opined that while some scenes were "rushed, undernourished, and underpopulated" and the digital cinematography was "sometimes flat and overly bright, which in turn reduces depth and detail and makes things feel one-dimensional," the film "might be the craziest thing I've ever seen. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every single batshit second of it."[92]

In a negative review, Screen Daily's Tim Grierson said the film was narratively excessive, incoherent, and uneven, with "cartoonish performances" and "stray ideas and themes that are introduced, then abandoned."[93] Peter DeBruge, for Variety, likewise categorized the acting as cartoonish and reminiscent of Southland Tales (2006) but with "'serious' actors, which lends everything a stilted, almost theatrical quality."[94] Writing for NME, Lou Thomas described Megalopolis as a film that "has to be seen to be believed," adding, "The dialogue and acting are heightened, skewed, and bizarre, lurching from fascinating philosophical arguments to nonsense rhymes and non-jokes." He further noted the unevenness in the film's evolving styles and visuals and praised the costumes and score.[95] Nicholas Barber of the BBC panned the movie, criticizing its "incoherent plot," "stilted dialogue," narrow use of "big-name actors" like Hoffman and Schwartzman, the contrast between "Driver taking it all so seriously, while Plaza goes gloriously over the top ... [and] LaBeouf prances around chewing the scenery to shreds," and the "horribly cheap and amateurish" visual effects. He concluded, "It's like listening to someone tell you about the crazy dream they had last night – and they don't stop talking for well over two hours."[96] Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "F," the lowest grade, condemning Coppola's direction for obtaining "horribly wooden performances" from the ensemble, further criticizing the "troubling gender roles and gross sexual dynamics at play" before saying the film's "greatest sin" is "how profoundly boring and bloated it all is. ... I at least expected something a little batshit. Something so bad it's good, an experience you could give yourself over to. But instead, it only prompted me to check my watch."[97]

Trailers[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis: Productions Notes. Cannes Film Festival (May 13, 2024).
  2. ↑ Megalopolis.
  3. ↑ Megalopolis – Financial Information.
  4. ↑ Francis Ford Coppola is Going All In Again|34th Street Magazine
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Wise, Damon (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis Review: Francis Ford Coppola's Mad Modern Masterwork Reinvents the Possibilities of Cinema – Cannes Film Festival.
  6. ↑ Ebiri, Bilge (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis is a Work of Absolute Madness.
  7. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (May 17, 2024). Megalopolis, Cannes review: Francis Ford Coppola's $120M Self-Funded Epic is No Car Crash.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Rooney, David (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis Review: Francis Ford Coppola's Passion Project Starring Adam Driver is a Staggeringly Ambitious Big Swing, if Nothing Else.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Tallerico, Brian (September 11, 2024). Megalopolis.
  10. ↑ Janz, Madeleine (August 22, 2024). What Is Megalopolis About? Everything to Know About Francis Ford Coppola's $120 Million Project.
  11. ↑ Citation.
  12. ↑ Oratio in Catilinam Prima VI.13-16 Notes.
  13. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 25, 2022). From The Godfather Trilogy to American Graffiti, Patton, The Conversation & Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola Shares His Oscar Memories.
  14. ↑ Douthat, Ross. ""Megalopolis" and the Vexations of Decadence", The New York Times, 2024-10-04. 
  15. ↑ Flegenheimer, Matt. "The Secrets Ed Koch Carried", The New York Times, 2022-05-07. 
  16. ↑ France, David (2013-02-01). Ed Koch and the AIDS Crisis: His Greatest Failure (in en).
  17. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 28, 2024). Francis Coppola's Megalopolis Screened for First Time Today for Distributors at CityWalk IMAX.
  18. ↑ Keslassy, Elsa (April 23, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis Nears French Distribution Deal with Indie Banner Le Pacte.
  19. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (April 30, 2024). Goodfellas boards international sales on Francis Ford Coppola's Cannes Selection Megalopolis (exclusive).
  20. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (May 22, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Cannes Contender Megalopolis Inks Another Raft of International Distribution Deals.
  21. ↑ Can Cannes Save Megalopolis? Francis Ford Coppola Prepares to Unveil His $120 Million Epic as Controversy Builds (May 15, 2024).
  22. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (April 9, 2024). Francis Coppola's Megalopolis Locks Competition Slot at 77th Cannes Film Festival: The Dish.
  23. ↑ Megalopolis Debuts at Cannes with 7-Minute Standing Ovation (May 16, 2024).
  24. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis: What the Critics are Saying.
  25. ↑ Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola – Press Conference. Cannes Film Festival (May 17, 2024).
  26. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 17, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola on Movie Industry: 'Streaming is What We Used to Call Home Video', But Major Studios May Become Extinct – Cannes.
  27. ↑ Megalopolis IMAX Global Release Will Be Limited; Release Date Contingent on U.S. Distribution but Late September Eyed for IMAX in 20 US Cities; Coppola Live Event Planned – Cannes (May 16, 2024).
  28. ↑ Welk, Brian (June 17, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis to Be Released This September by Lionsgate.
  29. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (July 26, 2010). Lionsgate, Zoetrope ink distribution deal.
  30. ↑ How Francis Ford Coppola's Embattled Megalopolis Finally Landed a Distributor (June 20, 2024).
  31. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (August 13, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, Films from Pedro Almodovar and Max Minghella Join Toronto Film Fest.
  32. ↑ Megalopolis. Toronto International Film Festival.
  33. ↑ Roxborough, Scott (August 16, 2024). Cannes Highlights Anora, Megalopolis, Emilia Pérez Set for San Sebastian's Perlak Sidebar.
  34. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (September 5, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis Sets New York Film Fest Advance Screening.
  35. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 16, 2024). Francis Coppola Draws Robert De Niro, Spike Lee For NYFF Panel Prior To IMAX Premiere Of Megalopolis.
  36. ↑ Hayes, Dade (September 23, 2024). Robert De Niro Piles On Donald Trump At Megalopolis NY Premiere, With Backup From Spike Lee: 'He Cannot Hold Anything Together'.
  37. ↑ Megalopolis di Francis Ford Coppola è il film di preapertura (in it) (September 17, 2024).
  38. ↑ LeBeau, Ariel (May 22, 2024). Megalopolis is Even Wilder Than You Might've Heard.
  39. ↑ Megalopolis: Will Distributors Replicate One of the Movie's Most Talked About Moments? 'We'll Try as Many Times as We Can', Says France's Le Pacte (May 19, 2024).
  40. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (June 17, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis to Be Released by Lionsgate in U.S..
  41. ↑ Welk, Brian (September 26, 2024). How Will Theaters Handle the Megalopolis Live Scene with Adam Driver When it Opens Wide?.
  42. ↑ Collin, Robbie (September 13, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola: 'Hollywood doesn't want me any more'.
  43. ↑ Powell, Nancy (March 25, 2023). Syzygy announces Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola graphic novel at WonderCon.
  44. ↑ Johnston, Rich (July 9, 2024). Jacob Phillips Finishes Adapting Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.
  45. ↑ Barsanti, Sam (September 3, 2023). Francis Ford Coppola teases a Megalopolis novelization from Colleen McCullough—who died in 2015.
  46. ↑ Newman, Nick (January 10, 2023). Francis Ford Coppola and Adam Driver Respond to Megalopolis Rumors; Mike Figgis Plans a Behind-the-Scenes Documentary.
  47. ↑ Bamigboye, Baz (May 21, 2024). Breaking Baz @ Cannes: Mike Figgis Mourns Fred Roos, Details Fly-on-the-Wall Coppola Documentary Megadoc; Festival Party Talk Through the Night with Blanchett, Schrader & Oldman.
  48. ↑ Echebiri, Chike (May 7, 2024). Megalopolis: Cast, Plot, Filming Details, and Everything We Know So Far About Francis Ford Coppola's Passion Project.
  49. ↑ Zilko, Christian (August 16, 2024). The Next Generation of Coppolas Will Help the Next Generation of Film Fans Discover Megalopolis.
  50. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 16, 2024). Megalopolis Lionsgate Theatrical Release to Get Boost from Utopia.
  51. ↑ Friedman, Roger (August 20, 2024). New Official Poster for Coppola's Megalopolis A Riff on or Rip Off of Star Wars Light Saber?.
  52. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (August 21, 2024). "Megalopolis: New Trailer Says Critics Were Wrong About Godfather, Dracula, and Now This Polarizing Epic". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 24, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  53. ↑ Welsh, Oli (August 21, 2024). This might be the most defensive movie trailer of all time.
  54. ↑ Kate Carr, Mary (August 21, 2024). Megalopolis' first full trailer insists it will stand the test of time.
  55. ↑ Ebiri, Bilge (August 21, 2024). Did the Megalopolis Trailer Use Fake Movie Critic Quotes?.
  56. ↑ Stephan, Katcy (August 21, 2024). Megalopolis Trailer Fabricates Quotes From Famous Movie Critics.
  57. ↑ Grobar, Matt (August 21, 2024). Lionsgate Recalling Megalopolis Trailer Amid Fabricated Quote Controversy: 'We Screwed Up'.
  58. ↑ Aguiar, Annie (August 21, 2024). Studio Pulls Megalopolis Trailer Featuring Fake Review Quotes.
  59. ↑ Megalopolis Trailer's Fake Critic Quotes Were AI-Generated, Lionsgate Drops Marketing Consultant Responsible For Snafu (August 23, 2024).
  60. ↑ Debrudge, Peter (August 22, 2024). The Critics Are Raving (Mad): Megalopolis Scandal Reminds How Blurbs Are Used and Misused in Movie Advertising.
  61. ↑ Megalopolis Finds a Fall Guy for AI Trailer Snafu and Hollywood Cries Foul (September 4, 2024).
  62. ↑ Kate Carr, Mary (September 5, 2024). Here's the Megalopolis trailer without a bunch of phony critic quotes in it.
  63. ↑ Megalopolis – Official Trailer (Utopia) (September 13, 2024).
  64. ↑ Booth, Kaitlyn (September 14, 2024). New Look At Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.
  65. ↑ Barfield, Charles (September 17, 2024). New Megalopolis Trailer Wants To Stimulate Your Third Eye Chakra... Seriously.
  66. ↑ Keraghosian, Greg (September 18, 2024). Guess how many stars Francis Ford Coppola gave his new film, Megalopolis.
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 Long Range Forecast: The Wild Robot, Megalopolis Close Out September (August 30, 2024).
  68. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (September 5, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis Tracking for Anemic $5M-Plus Domestic Opening.
  69. ↑ 69.0 69.1 69.2 D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 24, 2024). The Wild Robot Set To Walk Through Weekend With $20M+ Opening; Megalopolis Finally Happens – Box Office Preview.
  70. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (June 17, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis Lands at Lionsgate for U.S. Release After Divisive Cannes Premiere.
  71. ↑ Domestic 2024 Weekend 39.
  72. ↑ Coyle, Jake (September 29, 2024). Megalopolis flops, The Wild Robot soars at box office.
  73. ↑ Tangel, Andrew (September 29, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola's Big-Budget Megalopolis Flops in Debut Weekend.
  74. ↑ Wild Robot Powers To Third Best September Animated Pic Debut With $35M; Megalopolis Collapses With $4M & D+ CinemaScore; Saturday Night Alive In Limited Release – Sunday Box Office Update (September 29, 2024).
  75. ↑ Tracy, Marc (October 5, 2024). With Megalopolis, the Flop Era Returns to Cinemas.
  76. ↑ Template:Wikidata Megalopolis. Red Ventures.
  77. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 6, 2024). No One's Laughing Now: Joker Folie à Deux Falls Down With $39M-$40M Opening: How The Sequel Went Sideways – Sunday Box Office.
  78. ↑ Multiple sources:
  79. ↑ Northrup, Ryan (March 29, 2024). 'Unflinching in How Bats**t Crazy It Is': Megalopolis Early Reactions Tease Coppola's Truly Bizarre Epic.
  80. ↑ Welk, Brian (April 2, 2024). As Francis Ford Coppola Seeks Megalopolis Distribution, 'Everything is on the Table'.
  81. ↑ Belloni, Matthew (March 29, 2024). What I'm Hearing: Netflix Wants NBA; Shari's Junk Debt; & Streaming Micro Wars.
  82. ↑ Multiple sources:
  83. ↑ Ebiri, Bilge (April 11, 2024). Hollywood Is Doomed If There's No Room for Megalopolis.
  84. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (May 10, 2024). Hollywood can't help being suspicious about Francis Ford Coppola – Megalopolis isn't going to change that.
  85. ↑ Holmes, Helen (April 10, 2024). Francis Ford Coppola Responds to Megalopolis Uproar: Exactly What Happened with Apocalypse Now.
  86. ↑ Wasson, Sam (May 17, 2024). The View from Here.
  87. ↑ Multiple sources:
  88. ↑ Megalopolis: The 5 Most WTF Moments from Francis Ford Coppola's Sci-Fi Epic (May 16, 2024).
  89. ↑ Ehrlich, David (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis Review: Francis Ford Coppola's Wild and Delirious Fever Dream Inspires New Hope for the Future of Movies.
  90. ↑ Rothkopf, Joshua (May 16, 2024). Cannes: Coppola's Roman candle Megalopolis is juicy and weird.
  91. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis Premieres at Cannes: First Reaction.
  92. ↑ Ebiri, Bilge (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis Is a Work of Absolute Madness.
  93. ↑ Grierson, Tim (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis: Cannes Review.
  94. ↑ DeBruge, Peter (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis Review: Francis Ford Coppola's Bold, Ungainly Epic Crams in Half a Dozen Stars and Decades' Worth of Ideas.
  95. ↑ Thomas, Lou (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis review: as mad and memorable as everyone is saying.
  96. ↑ Barber, Nicholas (May 16, 2024). Megalopolis film review: Francis Ford Coppola's passion project is a 'pretentious, portentous curio'.
  97. ↑ Lee Lenker, Maureen (May 16, 2024). "Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis is bloated and unforgivably dull". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 23, 2024. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
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