Megalopolisis struggling to come anywhere near its $120 million production budget in its opening weekend. The science fiction epic, which was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a longtime passion project for the filmmaker, who self-funded it in a variety of ways, including selling a portion of his winery. TheMegalopolisreleasecomes more than 40 years after the movie was originally put into development in 1983 and roughly two years after principal photography commenced with an ensemble cast that included Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Laurence Fishburne.
As of Saturday morning, projections are reflecting thatthe 3-day opening weekend ofMegalopolisis coming in well below $5 million, withDeadlineshowing the movie coming in at No. 6 on the domestic box office chart with $4.1 million andVarietyreporting that it is expected to land at No. 5 with $4.6 million. Either total is significantly less than 5% of the movie’s gargantuan budget.
What This Opening Weekend Means For Megalopolis
The Movie’s Finances Are Complicated
Typically, a movie needs to earn between two and two-and-a-half times its budget in order to turn a profit due to a variety of factors, including theaters keeping half of ticket sales, and publicity costs not being included in production budgets. This wouldlikely place the break-even point forMegalopolissomewhere around $300 million, which seems like a nearly impossible figure for it to reach given its theatrical premiere and the audience reaction, which includes a D+ CinemaScore and a 41% Rotten Tomatoes audience score at the time of writing.
Megalopolis' Rotten Tomatoes critic score is slightly better, though still Rotten, at 49%.
However, this goal becomes slightly more complicated by the fact that the budget comes fromFrancis Ford Coppola’s own money. Although the movie has been put into U.S. theaters by Lionsgate, Coppola still ownsMegalopolisthrough his company American Zoetrope. Distribution costs will have been significantly less than the movie’s budget, so Lionsgate may still see some kind of profit from the release depending on how much they spent on putting it in theaters and how it performs overall, even thoughit will possibly never end up in the black in and of itself.
Our Take On Megalopolis' Opening Weekend
Francis Ford Coppola’s Career May Suffer From The Risky Movie
It remains to be seen howMegalopolisperforms in the long run, butit seems unavoidable that it will negatively impact the directorin ways both financial and professional. This could be especially damaging as it is the first properFrancis Ford Coppola movie, in terms of theatrical features, in more than a decade since 2011’sTwixt, which was also a box office flop, grossing $1.3 million against a $7 million budget. It may take self-funding another project for him to get another movie in theaters in the wake of this sci-fi epic, if taking such a risk is possible.
Megalopolis
Cast
Megalopolis, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a visionary 2024 film exploring the ambitious dream of reconstructing New York City into a utopia, following a devastating disaster. The narrative delves into the clash between the architect’s utopian vision and the political and personal turmoil that ensues. With a star-studded cast, the film examines themes of ambition, power, and the human spirit’s resilience against the backdrop of a futuristic metropolis.
