opens with $4M domestically. - Megalopolis (2024) Discussion

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8705) 2 months ago

What a shame. The film deserves better than this.

You would think that the grand return of the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse now, finally bringing the film that he's been wanting to make for decades to the big screen, would elicit more of a reaction and more interest. The fact that he self-financed it for $120 million should only add more interest.

Speaking personally, I can say that there was no way I was going to miss it.

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[–] Wuchak (8730) 2 months ago

Part of the problem is that it had a limited release. For instance, in my area the closest showing was a 50-minute drive away even though there's a perfectly suitable Regal Cinema 12 minutes from my house (that features a dozen new movies every day).

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8705) 2 months ago

That is strange. It is playing at every theater in my area.

Is it not THE big new release for this week?

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[–] Wuchak (8730) 2 months ago

I looked it up: "The Wild Robot" opened in 3962 theaters domestically while "Megalopolis" appeared in less than half that at 1854.

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[–] Creamofdacrop884 (1672) 2 months ago

Even worse than expected. Truly one of the biggest flops of all time.

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[–] Wuchak (8730) 2 months ago

FFC kicks axx.

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[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 2 months ago

So I imagine this will probably settle at $15-20 million worldwide. That's atrocious.

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[–] bozo_500 (13104) 2 months ago

Almost like everyone is deliberately avoiding the movie or something , you'd think a biggish budget long in gestation sci fi film starring Kylo Ren and a few recognisable actors and directed by film legend FFC could at least pull in a 20m opening going to about 50m end of run total and maybe another 50m overseas for 100m ww

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[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 2 months ago

I'm very surprised that it's opening so low. A lot of people in my personal life tell me it's because they "haven't seen a single ad for it" but I have seen several, so idk where people are (or aren't) looking. I think it's likely because of the word of mouth around the project. For the last few months, people have had mostly nothing but negative things to say about it. So audiences subconsciously decided to skip the movie months ago.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8705) 2 months ago

My expectation was that the film would make $20-$30 million opening weekend domestically and maybe about the same internationally, and even that would've been a disaster. I never thought it would do as poorly as it did. The film has a lot to attract interest:

- It's Francis Ford Coppola's first major film in decades.

- It's the film project that Coppola has been trying to make since the 80s.

- Coppola put $120 million of his own money into the film.

- The critical response was very divisive.

I certainly thought all of this would at least generate enough buzz and curiosity to attract more than $4 million worth of ticket sales.

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[–] heretoeffshytup (37) 2 months ago

You’re clearly very much out of touch with the real world if you thought this would do anywhere near $20 million opening.

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[–] Wuchak (8730) 2 months ago

Except that there are myriad cases where movies are surprise hits at the box office, like "The Exorcist."

"Titanic" was expected to be a huge flop since it needed to make $400 million just to break even. Not to mention, it had no international stars, no franchise familiarity, and a climax that the audience already knew was coming. To make it worse, a big-budget Broadway show about the doomed vessel premiered earlier that year to mediocre reviews. So success was hardly assured, yet it ended up making $675 million domestically with another $1.6 billion internationally.

So, ya never know.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8705) 2 months ago

I've stated my reasoning. $20 million is not a lot. The film has a legendary director, a superb cast, and a trailer that at least showed off some very cool visuals. Why is $20 million too much to expect?

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[–] heretoeffshytup (37) 2 months ago

Have you been following its marketing and such leading up to its release, or are you simply projecting your fantasies upon this movie of what you wanted??

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8705) 2 months ago

By "marketing and such," are you referring to the trailers or to the poor reviews?

If to the former, I thought the trailers made the film look like an intriguing, visually interesting film that was something different from the usual Hollywood fare, and with a stacked cast at that.

If you're referring to the poor reviews, I always hope that people don't allow themselves to be swayed too much by critics if a film otherwise seems like something they would like to see. In any case, the reviews is why I thought the film might make only $20 million instead, say, $60 or $70 million.

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[–] MonStar (12890) 2 months ago

There are many reports that Francis Ford Coppola has been financing the distribution of free tickets for this, which count towards the $4 million North American opening weekend.

Atom was distributing free tickets (and they might still be available). Someone posted that, as he prepared to pay for two tickets at a Cinemark theater, he was told they were free.

Coppola must have already had the results of focus group screenings, that undoubtedly told him to expect a box office failure. Years ago, Coppola told film students that they had a better chance of getting a new movie financed than he did, due to too many box office failures. Coppola self-financed Megalopolis.

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