One Year Later, 'Megalopolis’ Box Office Disaster Is Still Reshaping Francis Ford Coppola’s Life

1 Year Later, 'Megalopolis’ Box Office Disaster Is Still Reshaping Francis Ford Coppola’s Life Adam Driver holding a pickaxe with a golden handle on the poster for Megalopolis.Image via Lionsgate By  Chris McPherson Published 11 minutes ago Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts. For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider's news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.  He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him. His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan's work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.  Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Nearly a year after Megalopolis bombed in theaters, the financial shockwaves are still hitting Francis Ford Coppola. According to new filings, the Oscar-winning director has once again used San Francisco's famed Sentinel Building — the copper-domed flatiron tower in North Beach — as collateral for a private loan. The documents show Coppola’s company, Francis Ford Coppola Presents, secured a loan from Capital Holdings VI LLC, with the century-old building backing it. The exact loan amount wasn’t disclosed, but the move signals just how much strain Coppola faces after self-financing the 2024 sci-fi epic.

Coppola originally bought the seven-story landmark for $500,000 in 1973, just one year after The Godfather catapulted him to global fame. The pre-1906 Earthquake structure has long been tied to his fortunes: he nearly lost it during a debtor’s auction in the 1980s and put it up as collateral again in 1998. It houses Café Zoetrope and once served as headquarters for American Zoetrope. The roots of this situation trace back to Coppola’s decades-in-the-making passion project. To fund Megalopolis, he merged two wineries and borrowed $200 million against his ownership stake — leaving him deeply leveraged even before the movie debuted.

The film — a $120 million sci-fi fable that reimagines New York as “New Rome” and stars Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, and Adam Driver — earned just $14.4 million at the box office. Coppola used leftover loan funds not only to finish the film but also to renovate the Sentinel Building and upgrade his Inglenook Winery, even converting former American Zoetrope offices into boutique hotel rooms. But when the film flopped, the consequences were immediate. Earlier this year, Coppola told Rick Rubin:

“I don’t have any money because I invested all the money that I borrowed to make Megalopolis. It’s basically gone. I think it’ll come back over 15 or 20 years, but I don’t have it now.”

Was 'Megalopolis' That Bad?

Collider's Chase Hutchinson gave the film 4/10, claiming it was "big, bonkers" and "a mess," which... about sums it up. He wrote:

"This is a film that goes for breadth over depth, seemingly trying to be about everything only to end up being about nothing. Perhaps we’re meant to see Caesar as a stand-in for Coppola himself. While this is the most sincere of interpretations, it’s also the most uninteresting and egotistical. Then maybe it’s that Caesar is a self-critical takedown of “great men” who, despite all their supposed good intentions, are defined by arrogance and avarice. The film is like a Rorschach test where everything is a stretch and nothing has any substance to it."

Megalopolis is not currently available to stream or to purchase on PVOD. Which is odd, because you'd think it might save a building.

4 10

Megalopolis

Like Follow Followed Drama Sci-Fi Release Date September 27, 2024 Runtime 138 Minutes Director Francis Ford Coppola Writers Francis Ford Coppola

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• Adam Driver
• Forest Whitaker

An architect wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster.

Genres Drama, Sci-Fi Powered by Expand Collapse

• Movie News
• Megalopolis
• Francis Ford Coppola

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