Francis Ford Coppola Film Aims for $5 Million Debut

Francis Ford Coppola‘s sci-fi epic “Megalopolis,” the director’s self-funded passion project, is tracking to a disappointing $5 million to $7 million box office debut.

The film, released by Lionsgate, is expected to play at 1,700 North American theaters in its opening weekend. A single-digit start would be underwhelming for a movie that cost above $100 million to produce.

Coppola has a lot riding on “Megalopolis” because the 85-year-old “Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” director ended up independently financing the film for $120 million. After its Cannes Film Festival premiere, Lionsgate agreed to release and market the movie in exchange for a distribution fee.

“Megalopolis” is set in a futuristic America and follows an architect (Adam Driver) who clashes with the corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) in determining how to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome after a disaster. Reviews have been wildly divisive (it holds a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes), which could stoke interest in the film. Lionsgate tried to riff on the discord with a trailer that quoted well-known film critics who initially dismissed Coppola movies that went on to become classics. However, Vulture magazine first reported those quotes were fabricated or generated by AI, prompting Lionsgate to recall the spot.

This weekend’s other new release, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot,” looks to take flight with $24 million to $30 million during its debut in 3,900 venues. Rivals and independent tracking firms believe that ticket sales can surpass $30 million, but others are being cautious after last weekend’s new release, the animated “Transformers One,” fell slightly short of expectations with $24.6 million to start.

Based on those projections, the enthusiastically reviewed animated adventure should claim the No. 1 spot in North America from “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Tim Burton’s spooky sequel is the three-time box office champion, having emerged victorious over last weekend’s newcomer “Transformers One” in a surprisingly close battle. Now in its fourth weekend of release, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is aiming for $13 million to $15 million between Friday and Sunday. Meanwhile, “Transformers One” is projected to add $12 million to $14 million in its sophomore outing.

“The Wild Robot” cost $78 million, so it hopes to enjoy the staying power that benefitted post-pandemic animated family films such as Pixar’s “Elemental” and Illumination’s “Migration,” both of which continued to bring in audiences in the months after their debuts. “The Wild Robot” already began playing at the international box office, where the film has earned $8 million from eight markets.

Lupita Nyong’o leads the voice cast of “The Wild Robot,” a sci-fi survival story about a robot, known as ROZZUM unit 7134 a.k.a. Roz, who gets marooned on an uninhabited island and learns to adapt to the harsh surroundings. Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara voice the animals who befriend Roz over the course of the film. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge described “The Wild Robot” as “a gorgeous computer-generated cartoon with a human heart beating beneath its sleek, state-of-the-art surface.”

In limited release, director Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” a dramatic look at the lead up to the first “Saturday Night Live” episode, will open in four venues in New York and Los Angeles. Sony is releasing the movie — starring Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase and Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner — nationwide on Oct. 4.