Mega, Man
By
Just to close out this narrative which I've been writing about a number of times around these parts over the past several months, here's Brooks Barnes:
There is no kind way to put it: Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” died on arrival over the weekend.
Mr. Coppola, 85, spent decades on the avant-garde fable, ultimately selling part of his wine business to raise the necessary funds — about $120 million in production costs and another $20 million or so in marketing and distribution expenses. But moviegoers rejected the film: Ticket sales from Thursday night through Sunday will total roughly $4 million in North America, according to analysts, slightly below worst-case scenario prerelease projections.
Look, it was pretty clear from the get-go (well, since Coppola started to try to find distribution for the movie and was having a hell of a time finding any takers) that this would be the end result. No one expected this bad of a result – it's still Francis Ford Coppola – but it probably speaks less about the film and more about the type of film it was. Sadly, this type of movie just isn't meant for large-scale theatrical distribution any longer. You can hate that, but it's reality.
In the 1980s, when Mr. Coppola first began to develop the film, “Megalopolis” may well have had a chance in theaters. It was a time in Hollywood when ambitious films for thinking people could be eased into a few theaters and allowed to build an audience over months, adding more screens week by week and sometimes playing for a year or more. Hollywood could afford to take it slow in part because moviegoing dominated leisure time: Not only was there no internet yet, cable TV and video games were still in their relative infancy.
Today, movies are typically booked into as many theaters as possible as quickly as possible, especially if reviews are weak. Studios use this distribution tactic to capitalize on expensive marketing campaigns, which are intended to open a narrow window of interest from consumers. If the masses do not immediately materialize, theater chains redirect screens toward other movies. (On Friday, the Warner Bros. sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” will arrive in more than 4,000 theaters.)
By most accounts, the second Joker movie also isn't very good – it has a Metacritic score two points below Megalopolis! – and I surely the box office will suffer as a result. But again, not only because of that. The first Joker was right place/right time. It clearly tapped into a zeitgeist. This second film doesn't seem to have that working for it. It won't perform as badly as Megalopolis, of course. But perhaps were it not a sequel to one of the most successful R-rated movies of all time, involving major comic book IP, it might!
Mr. Coppola is the second Hollywood legend in three months to learn this lesson the hard way. Over the summer, Kevin Costner’s costly “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” flatlined at the box office. Plans to release the second chapter in theaters were canceled.
Between Megalopolis and Horizon, I think we can now safely say there is zero correlation between audience applause at Cannes and, well, much of anything. But keep those battling, baffling, and often contradictory headlines coming about standing-ovation-length. Great service journalism.
In Hollywood, where backbiting and schadenfreude run rampant, some agents and publicists have privately referred to “Megalopolis” as “Megaflopolis” for months. The film seemed to be snakebit from the start, suffering from offscreen problems that included crew firings in the middle of production, a libel suit and a bungled promotional trailer.
Look, I'm not going to take credit for the term, because only an asshole would do that, but it was right there for the taking back in April (I think my take was more nuanced – and ultimately correct – than the easy headline, FWIW)...
I still can't believe the fake AI review thing happened. This whole thing, sadly, seemed doomed from the start. And now I'm excited to watch it – on streaming, where it will undoubtedly appear soon – just to gauge the actual film itself. Hopefully Coppola is able to make a rebound one quickly.
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler