Megalopolis has been generating headlines for years. First, it was about how legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola had to self-finance his epic sci-fi movie because no studio was willing to touch it.
Then, we heard the director had reportedly fired the majority of the Megalopolis' visual effects team during production, prompting other crew members, including the entire art department, to exit due to what they called an "unstable filming environment."
More recently, Coppola has been accused of acting inappropriately on set, though it's unclear whether there's any truth to the allegations.
Then there was the trailer with AI-generated quotes from "critics" and Megalopolis' 49% score on Rotten Tomatoes which suggested Coppola's supposed magnum opus was anything but the masterpiece he'd promised.
With the movie now playing in theaters, regular moviegoers have chimed in...and wholly rejected Megalopolis. Boasting a D+ CinemaScore, it ranks among the worst-rated wide releases ever and scores lower than any superhero movie (the lowest-rated Marvel title is 2015's Fantastic Four with a C-, while DC's worst is Superman IV: The Quest for Peace's C).
Why the comparison? Well, Coppola has become one of the superhero genre's biggest detractors, declaring that they shouldn't be considered "cinema" and that "Martin [Scorsese] was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is."
It appears the filmmaker may have now realised that making movies like this isn't as easy as he believed, and with Megalopolis eyeing a dismal $5 million opening weekend, the $120 million budgeted title is also shaping up to be one of 2024's biggest flops.
Stay tuned for updates.
Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare.
Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor's daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.
The movie stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia Labeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Jason Schwartzman, Talia Shire, Grace Vanderwaal, Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman.
Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis is now playing in theaters.