Francis Ford Coppola’s latest film “Megacity” had enough public relations problems before the trailer was pulled because it contained fake movie review lines generated by artificial intelligence. The trailer aims to reassure viewers that the director behind The Godfather trilogy has previously overcome negative publicity. But if “Megacity”‘s current box office projections hold, its opening weekend could be even lower than the “Borderlands” movie.
According to Variety, “Megalopolis” is expected to gross between $5 million and $7 million in its opening weekend. By comparison, Borderlands opened to $8.6 million and totaled $32.9 million worldwide against a budget of $120 million. According to reports, the production cost of “Megacity” was also as high as $120 million, but the key difference is that most of the funds were provided by Coppola himself. The director had been trying to make the film for years, and when no major studios would work with him, he began self-financing it.
Coppola assembled an A-list cast for Megacity, including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Natalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fish Byrne and Dustin Hoffman. Driver plays Cesar Catilina, an architect who can control space and time. Cesar wants to completely reimagine his crumbling city, New Rome, while Mayor Franklin Cicero (Esposito) wants to maintain the status quo at all costs.
Earlier this year, background actors on one of the Megacity club scenes accused Coppola of engaging in unwanted physical contact with some female extras, including kissing to “put them in a good mood.” Coppola subsequently denied the accusations and sued Variety over the original story. But the incident once again sparked public criticism of the film.
Megalopolis will be released on Friday, September 27th.
