Miss “Megalopolis” last year during its theatrical run? Not to worry. IndieWire reports that Francis Ford Coppola will bring his opus back to theaters this summer for a limited tour event that includes a live discussion with the director after each screening.
READ MORE: Francis Ford Coppola Says ‘Megalopolis’ Reactions Are “Very Similar” To ‘Apocalypse Now’
“An Evening With Francis Ford Coppola and “Megalopolis”” sees FFC team up with THR’s Live Nation for a six-city tour from July 20 to August 1. Each event includes a screening of “Megalopolis” followed by an interactive, in-person discussion led by Coppola titled “How To Change Our Future.” “This is the way “Megalopolis” was meant to be seen, in a large venue, with a crowd and followed by intense interactive discussions about the future,” Coppola told THR in a press statement about the tour. Go to Ticketmaster now to check availability for each screening; dates and locations are listed below.
The event is the first chance Coppola fans get to see “Megalopolis” since it left theaters in 2024, as the film’s not available on any streaming service. Set in alternate United States, the film stars Adam Driver as a genius architect who strives to build a better New Rome (standing in for NYC), even if it means battling his family, the city’s Mayor, and his troubled history. Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, and Shia LeBeouf also star in the film. Coppola self-funded the pic’s $120 million budget, fulfilling the oft-delayed project he’d wanted to make for decades. The result? A consternated critical response out of last year’s Cannes world premiere (here’s The Playlist’s review), a worldwide box office gross of less than $15 million, and an overall mixed audience response.
But all of that matters less to Coppola than the political statement he wants to make with “Megalopolis.” And that’s the basis of the upcoming tour: to foment further discussion on the state of the nation and its uncertain future. Coppola addressed that in a livestream talk about the film he did last year with Robert DeNiro and Spike Lee. “People always said, ‘Why do you want to make a movie about America as Rome?,’” he said during the event. “Um, today America is Rome. And we’re about to go through the same experience, for the same reasons, that Rome lost its republic and ended up with an emperor. This movie is perhaps very prescient to do, a movie about America, because it’s going to happen in a few months.” [the livestream occured before the 2024 Presidential election]
“Rome was so prosperous, Rome was making lots of money. So the senators were actually very interested in their power and their own wealth,” Coppola continued.” And they weren’t managing the country. Well, the same thing has happened here. Our Senate and representatives are all manipulating their own power rather than running the country. And we’re in danger of losing it.”
Obviously, Coppola wants “An Evening With Francis Ford Coppola and “Megalopolis”” to inspire debate about the country’s future; a laudable goal, although six dates will only stir up so much conversation. Still, it lines up with FFC’s ever-political (and ambitiously impractical) legacy, and the tour will be a treat for the director’s fans. Not interested in attending? Maybe the graphic novel version of “Megalopolis” will suffice when it releases this October.
Check out the dates for “An Evening With Francis Ford Coppola and “Megalopolis”” below. As noted above, tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Sun, July 20 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Center for the Arts
Wed, July 23 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre
Fri, July 25 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre
Sun,July 27 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
*Tues, July 29 – Dallas, TX – The Texas Theatre (*Not a Live Nation Date, Tickets Available Here)
Fri, Aug 1 – San Francisco, CA – Palace of Fine Arts
