What if Adam Driver throwing himself into the void, from the top of the Chrysler Building, was a metaphor for the film career of Megalopolisthe science fiction epic of Francis Ford Coppola ? From the Cannes Film Festival and the complete assassination of most of the critics and the public who had the chance to see the film in preview, to the withdrawal of the trailer for using false statements generated by the ‘Artificial Intelligence, the descent into hell no longer stops for one of the most ambitious works of the great Coppola.
What remained was the release in American theaters first, then European, to try to save what could still be saved. For American theaters, it’s dead. After a first week of operation in 7,854 North American cinemas, the novel-architectural fresco of the director of Godfather andApocalypse Now was a resounding flop, collecting only $4 million according to the site Variety. To give an idea, The Wild Robotan animated film from Dreamworks, took in more than $35 million in half as many theaters. This is less than the most pessimistic initial forecasts, between $5 and $7 million, which would have already been financially disastrous for a film that cost $120 million. Suffice to say that the North American career of Megalopolis crashes before even taking off.
But it’s worse: positive word of mouth is very weak, if not almost non-existent (the film received a grade of “D+” on CinemaScore, on a scale that goes up to “E”). Across the Atlantic, critics are divided, and even quite embarrassed at the edges, in the face of a work whose sincerity of its director is absolutely not to be doubted, the New York Times calling the film “wonderfully eccentric” and Associated Press stating that it is “nearly impossible to digest in one unnerving viewing.” » “This film is an ambitious and personal vision,” deciphers analyst David A. Gross, of the film consulting company Franchise Entertainment Research. It happens that a work like this defies the odds and earns a lot of money. But we have to face the facts, it doesn’t work here.”
And in France?
And France in all this? Released last Wednesday, we will still have to wait to draw definitive conclusions, it is still a little early. But clearly, we are not starting with the standards of Ch’tisnor even on those ofA little something extra (as if you have to slip an apostrophe into a title for it to be a hit…). With a high number of copies (479, all the same), Megalopolis arrives in 2nd place on Wednesday, behind The Happy Chosen One (another apostrophe), the supercharged comedy by Frank Bellocq with Camille Lellouche, Michèle Laroque and Gérard Darmon: 20,000 admissions for one against 38,000 for the other. In front Gloomy (2009) or The ageless man (2007), it’s the best start to a Francis Ford Coppola film… in the 21st century. We console ourselves as best we can.
Set in a futuristic America, Megalopolis follows an architect, played by Adam Driver, who clashes with the corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) to determine how to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome after an urban disaster. The film also stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne.
