One of the most exciting events of the 2024 cinema year is already certain: the return of Francis Ford Coppola. Since over a decade The director behind masterpieces like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and The Dialogue has not brought a new film to the cinema. Now he returns even more megalomaniac.
With Megalopolis he shot a science fiction epic, which he has been working on since the 1980s. However, the project fell apart again and again before Coppola decided to do the remarkable thing Budget of $120 million to manage it himself by selling parts of his wine empire.
Megalopolis is supposed to be an incredible sci-fi film, but Hollywood studios are afraid of it
There’s a lot at stake for Coppola. Based on the first reactions, the risk was worth it: Megalopolis has clearly become a sci-fi film that is bursting with ideas and leaves the audience with one unusual viewing experience confronted. But that could now be a problem, as the Hollywood Reporter reports.
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Megalopolis
Megalopolis was released on March 28, 2024 in Los Angeles shown to a wider audience for the first time. Members of the cast and crew, Hollywood stars from Coppola’s circle of friends and various industry figures were present. Representatives from Universal, Sony, Disney, Warner, Paramount and Netflix were also spotted.
As it turns out, however, the studios’ enthusiasm for Megalopolis is limited. Many were hoping for a sci-fi blockbuster that… easier to sell. However, what Coppola has created seems to be a highly idiosyncratic epic about the reconstruction of a destroyed metropolis with complex characters.
One of these characters is the architect played by Adam Driver, who is full of idealism dreams of a utopian future. Opposite him is Giancarlo Esposito as the pragmatic mayor. However, there are no clear heroic figures in the story. Megalopolis seems too complex and unwieldy for the mainstream.
Not mainstream: Francis Ford Coppola’s return to the big screen is too idiosyncratic for a sci-fi blockbuster
Coppola only wants to show the film at a festival once a distributor has been found who is willing to invest a marketing budget of 40 million US dollars in the USA. He’s looking at $80 million to $100 million worldwide, the Hollywood Reporter adds. With it the risk passes to the studios.
“There’s just no way to position this film”a Hollywood Reporter source is quoted as saying, while another says the film is at these numbers definitely incur a loss becomes. “This is not how Coppola should end his career.” But what options are available to the director?
Since the film’s premiere, many industry insiders have tended to see the film as one prestigious indie studio like A24 or Neon, who have made a name for themselves with festival favorites, exquisite genre films and cleverly marketed niche projects. Megalopolis would fit perfectly into their portfolio.
Francis Ford Coppola wants to give Megalopolis the blockbuster treatment, but no studio is following suit
The thing is: Coppola’s vision of the film includes a major blockbuster release including IMAX evaluation – and for it all to work, a decent marketing budget is necessary. Possible alternative options would be the Disney subsidiary Searchlight Pictures or Focus Features from Universal.
The two studios are located between A24, Neon & Co. and the major studios. In the past, they have brought, among other things, more complex mid-budget auteur projects to the cinema. Searchlight was represented at the Oscars this year with Poor Things, Focus recently scored with The Holdovers and Asteroid City.
However, Universal and Focus are not interested in Megalopolis, according to the Hollywood Reporter report. A large studio presents itself challenge and risk or will Coppola compromise to bring Megalopolis to the cinema? This is currently one of the most exciting questions in Hollywood.