Francis Ford Coppola's long-awaited film, Megalopolis, is set to hit US theaters in September after securing a distribution deal with Lionsgate. The film, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and received mixed reviews, has been in development for decades. Coppola financed the project largely himself by selling off pieces of his wine empire.
Megalopolis tells the story of Cesar, an artist-inventor with dreams of building a utopian metropolis in New York City. The film stars Adam Driver as Cesar and Giancarlo Esposito as the city's mayor. Other notable cast members include Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Dustin Hoffman.
The film has experimental aspects and includes a live moment where an actor addresses a question to the screen. Coppola spent decades pondering Megalopolis and ultimately sold off pieces of his considerable wine empire to finance it himself. The film previously landed distribution deals for many international territories.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson expressed excitement about working with Coppola again, stating, “Francis is a legend. For many of us, his gifts to cinema were one of the inspirations to devote our own careers to film. It is a true privilege to work with him, and to bring this incredible, audacious, and utterly unique movie to theatrical audiences.”
Megalopolis will be released in US and Canadian theaters on September 27, including IMAX screens. Coppola previously collaborated with Lionsgate on several home movie releases, including Apocalypse Now Final Cut.
