THR Warns ‘Megalopolis' is “Too Experimental" With Zero Commercial Prospects

THR’s takedown of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” will have many talking in the hours and days to come.

What the report says is that “Megalopolis” is being deemed, by some studio execs, as “too experimental” and “not commercial enough” to acquire and spend $100M requested for marketing. We already knew that. The film has already been described in such terms as “batsh*t crazy.” “baffling,” “downright confounding,” “undefinable,” “fit for a museum” and the “work of a madman.”

So, let’s please get this out of the way and come to terms with the fact that “Megalopolis” is not going to be a “blockbuster” or a “commercial success.” And, frankly, who cares? Maybe Coppola does, but he knew the risks when he dished out $120 million of his own money to make this “undefinable” film.

Multiple sources who have seen it tell THR that “Megalopolis” will “face a steep uphill battle to find a distribution partner”. Says one distributor: “There is just no way to position this movie.” One of them goes on to call the film “an enormously hard sell to a wide audience.” No shit, Sherlock.

Another two people, speaking anonymously, of course, tell THR that it was hard to figure out who was the good guy and who was the bad guy in “Megalopolis.”

One studio head in attendance described it as “some kind of indie experiment” that might find a home at a streamer. I highly doubt Coppola would settle a deal with a Netflix or Amazon. Meanwhile, Universal and Focus are definitely out. I’m certain other studios are as well.

However, THR wasn’t done and decided to end their report with one final assessment, from a studio head, saying “Megalopolis” is “so not good, and it was so sad watching it. Anybody who puts P&A behind it, you’re going to lose money. This is not how Coppola should end his directing career.” Yikes.

I should mention that THR, much like any of the other trades, is frequently used as a studio mouthpiece, and this sort of reporting is sometimes designed to force Coppola to lower his asking price. Always take these, and also Deadline’s recent glowing and hype-filled screening report on the film, with a MAJOR grain of salt.

Now, I don’t know whether “Megalopolis” is as bad as that last person claims it to be — we’ve had plenty of polarized reactions — but what I do know is that THR’s report has not deterred my interest in watching this film. If anything, the WTF reactions have only enhanced my curiosity.

There is only one place to screen a film like “Megalopolis”: CANNES.