“Megalopolis” by Francis Ford Coppola is a failure Photo. press materials // Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock/Rex Features/East News
“Megalopolis” is an independent film that Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, “Apocalypse Now”) has been working on for several decades and calls it his “life’s work”. He wrote the first draft of the script in 1983. In order to finance the work himself, the budget of which was 120 million dollars, the director sold part of his shares in the famous winery in 2021.
The action of the science fiction drama takes place in the future, specifically in a metropolis resembling New York. Adam Driver, known from the new “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, was cast in the main role. The plot focuses on an architect who dreams of restoring the city to its former glory after a recent disaster. However, his way will be blocked by a corrupt mayor, played by Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”).
The cast of “Megalopolis” also includes: Shia LaBeouf (“Fury”), Nathalie Emmanuel (“Game of Thrones”), Grace VanderWaal (“Christmas”), Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”), Jon Voight (“Midnight Cowboy” “) and Dustin Hoffman (“The Graduate”).
“Megalopolis”, which debuted in American cinemas last weekend (Polish premiere on October 25), had a truly disastrous opening. As reported “Variety”grossed only four million dollars during its debut (on a budget of $120 million).
So it looks like Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” will be an even bigger failure. Especially since the reviews are really poor: the film received a disastrous D+ on CinemaScore. It has 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. from critics (based on 201 reviews) and 34 percent from viewers, and on Metacritic – 55 from reviewers and 4.6 from the audience.
As you can see, experts’ opinions are divided. The New York Times called Megalopolis “wonderfully eccentric,” while the Associated Press said the film was “nearly impossible to digest after one disorienting viewing.” The Guardian writes about Coppola’s “epic failure”, and the San Francisco Chronicle predicts that it may be the biggest film failure of all time. USA Today calls the work “too strange for words.”
BFMTV journalist Jérôme Lachasse wrote on the X website (formerly Twitter) that “Megalopolis” was a disaster. “Funny like ‘The Room’ by Tommy Wiseau. Z.” […] senseless scenes and absurd dialogues,” we read. The reviewer also added that at the end of the screening there was booing in the audience, which was interrupted when a tribute to Eleanor Coppola, the director’s deceased wife, appeared on the screen.
Let us add that the Lionsgate studio tried to use the controversy surrounding the film as part of its promotion: it published a trailer with quotes from famous film critics who initially criticized Coppola’s films, which later became classics. However, as Vulture magazine reported, these quotes were fabricated or AI-generated, prompting Lionsgate to apologize and withdraw the trailer.
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