Megalopolis & The Multiplex (Ingredients for failure)

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If you are expecting this to be a critique about this supposed last feature from director, Francis Ford Coppola.  I apologize but this is not that sort of essay. Like many film fans , I too was a little surprised that the famous director of movies like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now spent over $120 Million Dollars of his own money on this project, only to have it gross just under $5 Million.  Many asking why, especially since this sort of thing occurred back in the early 80’s when he spent big loads of money to make his musical One from the Heart.  Only to be in such debt afterwards he had to direct movies like Jack and Bram Stoker’s Dracula to recoup the lost.

Francis even sold his winery to help make Megalopolis which led to many people calling this feature, Mega”Flop”olis (shout out to the gents from the podcast Film Rage for me hearing that name), but why.  Why would anyone take that big of a risk on a project that most certainly wasn’t going to do big numbers. Francis Ford Coppola hasn’t really been a big name for general audiences.  The closest he’s gotten to wide spread appeal is when The Godfather was mentioned in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.  Even his Oscar winner daughter Sofia doesn’t have that big of clout to do a major budget film like this. I don’t believe Mr. Coppola made this fable to make money.  I think even though he put in a lot of money to make this.  I don’t think he put his family in poverty by making this.  The Coppola’s will be just fine everyone.  No, this was just something very personal for him to say something and you know what.  Good for him, even though I may not have understood or enjoyed all of what Megalopolis was saying.  I value and appreciate that he made it,  I think as the years go by, it will be re evaluated and may even earn a spot on the Criterion Collection.

After hearing about this movie being screened at Cannes.  I expected it to come to some of the independent movie theater chains, but when I heard it was going to be released wide and in IMAX too, I was like.  I hope you had fun making this because you are going to loose a lot of money.  I understand why it went to many theaters.  I’m sure he thought he would earn back more money that way.  But I never thought Megalopolis to be in the same theater where the latest Transformers movie was playing next door. 

This is an art house movie and no matter what it’s price tag.  Showing this crammed in with a a bunch of other movies is a marketing disaster in my opinion.  A movie like this needs to be shown at movie houses that only have one screen or at tops 5.  Places like this are rare but they do exist and for me that is the best way to watch a movie like this.  Not at theaters where you can reserve your seat and show up whenever you want, but at ones you need to arrive early at in order to get a good place.  There should have been a 5 to 10 minute overture before the movie began and it should have included an intermission.  There was supposed to be a scene when a member in the audience interacts with Adam Driver’s character in the movie that was obviously cut.  Because you can’t expect to hire an extra staff member to do this at every AMC Theater showing.

When Quentin Tarantino made The Hateful 8 in 70mm  He had a roadshow version where that print went around and was shown at many theaters that could afford to house them there.  I stand by my opinion that version (with the intermission and overture) the only version that should have ever been released.  I know many theaters moved away from film and do not have the equipment much less the staff to work it.  I also understand the loss in ticket sales when this occurs.  But I also believe that movies should not be judged by their box offices.  Film should not be evalulated by weekend scores and Rotten Tomatoes ratings. They should take time to grow and gain recognition throughout the years.  I really wished Megalopolis was released only in like one theater per city and the only showtimes was at 7PM on every Saturday.  They could design the theater to look like scenes from the movies and they could have it’s staff wear costumes from it as well.   It would take many many years to earn back it’s budget but I think it would slowly earn it back through word of mouth and most importantly time. 

There seems to be this big rush to be to the top dog in everything and even though many will argue that  Francis Ford Coppola was trying to do that with this picture.  I think he just wanted to tell his story his way and didn’t really care what the results were.  In the time of writing this there have been as many positive reviews of it as there have been negative.  Both sides have very valid points  but maybe the most important thing about Megalopolis isn’t if it’s good or bad,  But that we are having any type of discussion about art at all is a pretty awesome thing to behold.

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