a new one Megacity The trailer was released earlier today — and it’s sparking early buzz surrounding Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project, underscoring the tepid reviews of his past films (“Apocalypse Now”, “The Godfather”) It is now considered a masterpiece. But what seemed like a clever stunt a few hours ago now feels like a stunt that went horribly wrong. After Vulture and other online sleuths began digging into the comments, Lionsgate just admitted that the quotes weren’t true.
In a statement to Variety, Lionsgate took full responsibility. “Lionsgate immediately recalled our trailer Megacity,” reads a statement provided to the industry. “We sincerely apologize to the critics involved, to Francis Ford Coppola, and to American Zoetrope for the inexcusable errors that occurred during our review process. We screwed up. We’re sorry.
Although the trailer has since been removed, it included quotes from legendary film critics such as Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris and Roger Ebert – writers whose views have helped shape public viewing for decades selection, and their reviews are readily available in print and online.
Gizmodo’s Rhett Jones speculated that someone might be using a chatbot program to make false offers; when chatGPT asked Ebert for his review of Coppola’s 1992 horror romance, chatGPT gave this response Dracula played by Bram Stokerone of the examples cited Megacity trailer:
(Any actual use of a chatbot to come up with the quotes used in the trailer is unproven; this is just an experiment.)
The trailer quotes Albert as saying Dracula Considered “style over substance,” this line did not appear in his actual review (he Do describes it as a “feverishly over-the-top exercise”), but does appear almost verbatim in the example chatGPT prompt. (io9 reached out to Lionsgate earlier today for comment on Vulture’s story about the fabricated offer, but didn’t receive a response until Variety and others published the studio’s “we screwed up” statement.)
Kyle, Sarris and Ebert are dead, but a critic discovered his name in the New York Times. Megacity Owen Glieberman, formerly of Entertainment Weekly and now of Variety, noticed this and responded in the trailer.
In an interview with his current outlet, he pointed out that the whole idea behind the trailer itself—that some of Coppola’s best work is misunderstood at the outset—was a shaky one to begin with. “Critics like godfather“, he told Variety. “Although apocalypse now Although divisive, it has received much critical critical support. According to my call Dracula played by Bram Stoker “What a mess”, I wish I could say that! About that movie, it sounds friendly now.
Megacity It is scheduled to be released in theaters and IMAX on September 27. Starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Natalie Emmanuel, Ciara LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Summers Earl, Jason Schwartzman, Katherine Hunt, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, DB Sweeney, Dustin Hoffman and Aubrey Plaza.
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