Megalopolis “May Not Be Ready in Time" for Cannes

Last week, I told Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells that I had heard Francis Ford Coppola was getting cold feet about premiering his much-anticipated “Megalopolis” at Cannes. I wouldn’t scratch off the chances of a premiere either.

The film was, supposedly, shown to Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux earlier in the year, but Coppola is still in post-production on it. All I’m saying that there must be much more to this story than meets the eye.

From Screen Daily‘s “Cannes 2024: What’s in the running?” (3.21.24), co-written by Mona Tabbara, Jeremy Kay, Elisebet Cabeza, Emilio Mayorga and Rebecca Leffler:

And it now seems Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” may not be ready in time – but what a return to the Croisette that would be for the double Palme d’Or winning-director of The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.

“Megalopolis” wrapped production on March 30, 2023. It’s been in post prod for almost 12 months now. I do understand that there was a ton of VFX work on the film, but are we to believe that the film won’t be completed by May, which is when Cannes occurs?

Word is that a splashy fall 2024 release, in IMAX, is being eyed for “Megalopolis.” Obviously, premiering this one at Cannes is a major risk for Coppola, who spent $120 million of his own money to produce this long-gestating passion project of his.

The thought of “Megalopolis” getting bad reviews on the Croisette and then having to wait 5+ months for it to be released, with toxic word of mouth, is a nightmarish worst-case-scenario for Coppola. Premiering it this early is not the wisest of business decisions — then again, if Coppola has confidence in the final product then who’s to say he shouldn't take the risk.

At this point, it looks like it’ll be a game of wait and see for Cannes and Coppola. The sci-fi epic stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, Shia LaBeouf, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jason Schwartzman and Jon Voight.