Box Office: 'Megalopolis' Bombs While 'Devara Part 1' Is A One-Day Wonder

Francis Ford Coppola's passion project opened with just $4 million, while the Tollywood epic earned $4 million out of a $5.6 million debut on Friday alone.

In non-Wild Robot weekend box office news, the other high-profile opener this weekend was Lionsgate’s domestic launch of Megalopolis. Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded, $120 million opus debuted at Cannes with mixed reviews, with little in the offering suggesting a boffo launch. In a world where few folks show up for outright original films and where Coppola hasn’t had a mainstream success since The Rainmaker (a John Grisham adaptation) in late 1997, the notion of this ambitious, sprawling but not exactly crowdpleasing or acclaimed *drama* would be anything resembling a hit was foolhardy. 

“Francis Ford Coppola is one of the world’s greatest filmmakers and a cherished member of our creative family.  We are proud to partner with him in giving Megalopolis the wide theatrical release it deserves.  Like all true art, it will be viewed and judged by movie audiences over time.” -- Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Adam Fogelson 

Lionsgate didn’t grab the domestic distribution rights (while making Coppola shell out for marketing) for box office glory but rather to continue an ongoing (post-theatrical) relationship with the auteur and to remind folks that Lionsgate is the studio of both Saw and La La Land. So, yes, a $4 million opening weekend (alongside a D+ CinemaScore grade) is not exactly a surprise. In a better year for Lionsgate, like last year, a mostly ignored Megalopolis would have been a “for the love of the game” release.  

A theatrical losing streak alongside some unforced errors (like a theatrical trailer whoopsie where they used artificial intelligence to find poor reviews from prior Coppola films and forgot to check to ensure the quotes were accurately attributed to the respective critics) affects the narrative. No matter what happens, the relative triumph of Megalopolis is that it exists at all, which is somewhat the meta “point” of the film. At least Coppola didn’t try to make his passion project into a four-part saga...