2024’s Biggest Movie Flop Is Almost Impossible To Watch Today (But There’s A Good Reason Why)

Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” (which /Film’s Chris Evangelista deemed a “big, beautiful mess” in his review) was alternately the most fascinating and frustrating film of 2024. Cinephiles who’d been pining away for one last big-swing masterpiece from the maestro who gave us the “Godfather” trilogy, “The Conversation,” and “Apocalypse Now” were mostly respectfully perplexed by Coppola’s science-fiction saga; there were true believers out there, but the general consensus was that his vision of an empire in decline was intellectually fuzzy. On one hand, it was a godsend to receive an epic so stuffed with ideas that you couldn’t possibly break it down on a single viewing; alas, it was hard to work up the enthusiasm to dive back in because the film lacked the sumptuous sweep of those aforementioned masterpieces.

Of course, Coppola is too great a filmmaker and “Megalopolis” is far too ambitious a film to leave it as a one-and-done experience. A movie this difficult might just open up on subsequent viewings. What felt like errant storytelling or slapdash editing may cohere now that you have the lay of the filmmaker’s sprawling, richly imagined land. Or it could just be an interesting failure.

I’m not the only one who feels like I owe Coppola’s “Megalopolis” one last go-round, nor, evidently, am I the only one to keep putting it off. Recently, actor Jared Gilman (brilliant as Sam in “Moonrise Kingdom”), while responding to a tweet lamenting the lack of a physical media release for “Megalopolis,” said he just assumed the film was “rentable.” So did I, Jared! After all, I wrote the /Film article last year informing our readers how they could rent “Megalopolis” at home.

Shockingly, you cannot rent “Megalopolis” from a streamer in the United States anymore, nor can you buy a Region 1 physical media release. Why is “Megalopolis” suddenly so hard to watch in the country it’s skewering? Blame Coppola!

“Megalopolis” cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $130 million to make, and most of that money came from Coppola selling his Sonoma County wineries. It’s his movie to do with as he pleases. And what pleases him at this moment is theatrical exhibition.

Unfortunately for Coppola, “Megalopolis” grossed a paltry $14.4 million worldwide. There’s no getting around it: his self-financed labor of love is an all-time flop. But Coppola has been here before. 47 years ago, he gambled the future of his Zoetrope Studios on the backlot musical “One from the Heart” and suffered one of the most devastating creative and financial failures in motion picture history. A 2003 DVD recut of “One from the Heart” hastened a critical reappraisal, and he tinkered with the film again last year for “One from the Heart: Reprise.”

So, why isn’t Coppola doing likewise with “Megalopolis?”

Right now, he is taking “Megalopolis” on tour. The film is currently the centerpiece of a retrospective at the Henry Ford theater in Detroit. You can hit up the venue’s website for showtimes, and I can personally vouch for the quality of the Ford experience; it’s a big, beautiful theater that delivers an impeccable presentation.

While I understand Coppola’s desire to exclusively screen “Megalopolis” theatrically in the United States, it’s odd that his fervor for the big-screen experience apparently dissipates once you cross the Atlantic. If you own a Region-Free 4K player (and, prior to our unpredictable tariff absurdity, you could get a reliable one for a reasonable price), you can currently order a physical copy made for the European market. This release includes scene-specific commentary from Coppola, so the director was involved to some extent with this disc.

When “Megalopolis” was briefly available to rent on major platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV last November, it was priced at $19.99 with no digital ownership option. I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what Coppola’s next logical distribution move would be with a film that was resoundingly rejected by moviegoers. In the end, it’s his money. I just want him to make the movie available on his terms, albeit one that allows everyone reasonable, affordable access to a late-career work from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. “Megalopolis” will never gain wider acceptance if it remains hard to watch.