Tracking to $5M-$7M opening

https://deadline.com/2024/09/the-wild-robot-megalopolis-box-office-1236098281/

The $120M dystopian family ensemble drama, Megalopolis, starring Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel and Shia LaBeouf is tracking to $5M-$7M. Yesterday, the self-financed Coppola movie had its New York Film Festival premiere but also played in a total of 60 paid previews around the country, some select markets featuring the live actor who appears in the middle of the movie during a “press” sequence with Driver’s lead character on screen. Those shows are billed as “The Ultimate Experience”. I understand yesterday made around $300K and that money will be rolled into previews which start Thursday at 6PM. Megalopolis despite screening to buyers before Cannes and coming away from the Croisette had a hard-time finding buyers given how idiosyncratic it is. As such, this is a distribution deal for Lionsgate: They are not on the hook for marketing costs nor any share of the production budget. That’s all Coppola. Lionsgate’s distribution fee is fee-based plus some percentage points based on box office. Sources in the know tell me the Santa Monica-based studio can walk away with $3M-$5M on this 2 hour and 18 minute running epic, no matter how badly it bombs. Despite the 51% critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes coming away from its Cannes premiere where Coppola earned a seven-minute standing ovation, there’s intrigue for the auteur’s latest: I understand a bulk of the AMC presales are for Imax shows.