Francis Ford Coppola explains why Megalopolis is not available on DVD. The Godfather director’s 2024 sci-fi film was notoriously fraught with production issues, and then struggled to secure a distributor even after it had been filmed. Once the film did eventually come out, Megalopolis‘ reviews were not strong, with a 45% Tomatometer overall.
Megalopolis was also an incredible box office flop. The movie made just $14.3 million worldwide, losing exponentially more than it made after its estimated $120 million budget. It was considered one of the biggest flops of its release year.
Speaking with Deadline, Coppola now explains why Megalopolis was never released on DVD. Implying that he was behind the decision, the director said that he “wanted to keep the hope of a theater experience going.” This gave Coppola the idea to, instead of throwing in the towel by making the movie available at home, tour with the movie.
The ticket sales for this tour, the director noted, contribute to “the fund of keeping it alive.” Check out the full quote from Coppola below:
“I didn’t make the movie available anywhere where people can own it or have a DVD or all that because I wanted to keep the hope of a theater experience going. So because of that, there are a lot of people who said to me, well, how come you can’t get it on all the normal ways? I said, well, because I’m going to go and bring it in a public way at first to prime the pump, where I’ll talk about the movie at the end, or rather illustrate some of where the movie could take you if you wanted to discuss it that way. And that gave birth to this idea of a tour. Also, it was in a theater shown in the format it was intended. And the tickets go into the fund of keeping it alive.”
What This Means For Megalopolis
Will The Movie Ever Come Out On DVD?
The tour in reference is a multi-city roadshow wherein Coppola travels around showcasing the movie. Last Sunday, for example, he headed to Red Bank, NJ, and presented the movie with a discussion afterward called “How to Change Our Future.” After Red Bank, he will travel to Denver and San Francisco.
As is clear in Coppola’s quote, as well, this tour is a way of “keeping [Megalopolis] alive” after its box office failure. The tour cannot bring anywhere near a significant enough amount of money to recoup the massive production costs for the film, but it can at least extend the film’s legacy.
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With this most recent statement, it is unclear when Megalopolis will ever be available to watch at home. Coppola is adamant that he wants to “bring it in a public way first,” though the extent of those theatrical showings is unclear. Already, it has been nearly a year since the movie came out originally, and the wait for a DVD continues.
Our Take On Coppola’s Megalopolis Stance
The Director Insists That Megalopolis Is A Masterpiece
Coppola’s refusal to be Megalopolis on DVD is pretty unsurprising given his track record with the film. Even before the movie was widely released, Coppola asserted that it was a misunderstood masterpiece. He has maintained this perspective even as the movie was nominated for the undesirable Razzie awards.
And it seems like that is the perspective he is continuing to take as he asserts Megalopolis as a film worthy of theatrical play. At the moment, his tour seems to be going relatively well, and it will be interesting to see whether the public’s opinion on the movie will change any time soon.
Source: Deadline
Megalopolis
8/10
- Release Date
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September 27, 2024
- Runtime
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138 Minutes
