If Francis Ford Coppola had hoped the screening of his self-funded epic “Megalopolis” two weeks ago would have nabbed a buyer right away, it seems that ship has sailed.
A new feature piece in THR has gone into why the high-profile yet secretive film is having issues securing a distribution deal – and it’s seemingly all to do with the film itself and its marketability.
The 135-minute film follows the rebuilding of a metropolis after its accidental destruction, with two competing visions (one idealistic, one pragmatic) competing and clashing in the process. There’s also a ton of ancient Roman iconography from haircuts to outfits and architecture.
Many of the major studios and streamers were on hand for the screening with a source for the trade saying Coppola wants a grand marketing push and “assumed he would make a deal very quickly” with a studio happy to “commit to a massive P&A spend” to market the film.
However Universal has “already tapped out of the bidding” and others aren’t apparently eager to jump on it as one source says: “I find it hard to believe any distributor would put up cash money and stay in first position to recoup the P&A as well as their distribution fee”.
They add if Coppola were willing to spend big himself to market the movie, then “there would be a lot more interested parties”. The trade adds IMAX is likely to give the film some support if it gets distribution, but they “expected the film to be far more commercial”.
A studio head in attendance reportedly called the film “some kind of indie experiment” which could find a home at a streaming service. Another says: “Does it wobble, wander, go all over the place? Yes. But it’s really imaginative and does say something about our time.”
Wherever it ends up, the film is already drawing a bunch of attention and will be followed by many to see what Coppola has cooked up.
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