Lionsgate has picked up Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and is planning a September 27, 2024 release.
The acquisition comes almost three months after a March 28 screening for top Hollywood executives which ended up with no U.S. distributor picking up the film. It’s interesting that Lionsgate ended up nabbing the film given that they weren’t mentioned much in speculative articles concerning the film’s future.
This is only the third time Lionsgate is distributing a big-budget independent film after “Midway" ($100 million) and “Moonfall” ($146 million) - and neither of them ended up being a success. There’s also the question of IMAX, which Coppola had secured months ago — the film’s September 27 release date means it will have to share IMAX screens that same weekend with “Wild Robot” and the re-release of Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar.”
The legendary Oscar-winning director self-funded “Megalopolis,” a passion project more than four decades in the making. He sold his lucrative winery to fund the film, which was said to cost around $120 million. It had been reported that whoever bought “Megalopolis” had to also promise an Oscar campaign for the film.
At Cannes, the film premiered to love/hate reactions, call it “mixed reviews”, but interest in the film hasn’t waned since then, if anything, it’s only gained in anticipation as polarizing reactions only enhanced the mystery of the film.
The next morning, Coppola addressed questions of putting his own money into the feature and expressed zero regrets about it:
My children, without exception, have wonderful careers without a fortune. We are fine. It doesn’t matter. The money doesn’t matter. What is important are the friends. A friend will never let you down. The money may evaporate.
In “Megalopolis,” for which Laurence Fishburne provides narration, Adam Driver plays Caesar, a tortured visionary fighting to rebuild his city into a utopia after disaster strikes. It’s also a love story between Caesar and Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the daughter of his rival and opponent, and the battle for her heart. It’s Romeo and Juliet, a Shakespearean rivalry between two families. The main villain is portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito as the city mayor opposing Caesar’s vision. Aubrey Plaza plays a rival love interest.