Francis Ford Coppola’s fouty-odd-year passion project Megalopolis was released this weekend. The Cannes-debuting, $100 million-plus movie boasted a star-studded cast but only managed to secure the number six spot in the U.S. box-office top ten over the weekend, and just $4 million in receipts.
Ahead of Megalopolis in the top ten were the likes of horror movie Speak No Evil, Indian Telugu-language action-drama Devara Part 1, animated fare Transformers One, Tim Burton-helmed Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the brand new release The Wild Robot, which topped the charts with $35 million in takings, not far off ten times the amount of Megalopolis.
Coppola’s movie has split critics since it played in Cannes and it has failed to find an audience. Personally, I hated it when I caught it in Cannes back in the summer – it’s too long, and doesn’t make any sense (to me, anyway).
Megalopolis is a Roman Epic set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.
It also opened in the UK, opposite the likes of horror movie Never Let Go, the film adaptation of the novel The Outrun, which premiered at Sundance and Berlin this year, and also My Old Ass with Aubrey Plaza, who also appeared in Megalopolis (she’s probably the best thing about it). Figures won’t be printed for the UK until later in the week in terms of box-office, though.
A rumoured November digital release is being planned for Megalopolis if you want to wait until then. Otherwise it is still playing in cinemas.
