‘Megalopolis’ Trailer Taken Down By Lionsgate After Fabricated Quote Controversy

Yesterday, a trailer was released for Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming film, “Megalopolis. Today, that trailer has been wiped from the internet, and Lionsgate is taking the blame. 

According to Lionsgate, the studio has removed a strange trailer for “Megalopolis.” Why do we call it strange? Well, there’s a couple of reasons. First, the trailer starts with negative review quotes for some of Coppola’s most respected works. It shows negative review quotes of “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” and more. This was apparently supposed to combat the early divisive reviews out of Cannes for “Megalopolis,” asking viewers to forget what critics are saying and go see the movie to make up their own minds. A noble effort, but still a fairly odd choice for a trailer. But what is most strange about the trailer was how the quotes were all, apparently, fabricated.

READ MORE: ‘Megalopolis’ Review: Francis Ford Coppola’s Epic Is A Madman’s Fever Dream [Cannes]

It didn’t take long for people to realize the quotes used in the trailer (also attributed to real critics) were made up. There’s a breakdown of all of them over at Vulture. Why would a studio decide to use fake quotes, attributed to real people, in a trailer released worldwide? Well, according to the studio, they “screwed up.”

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis,’” said the studio. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”

It’s hard to come up with another example of how badly a marketing move has blown up in a studio’s face. There was already enough of a risk involved with “Megalopolis” to make it one of the most interesting releases of 2024. They didn’t need to add this controversy to the proceedings. 

For those unaware, “Megalopolis” is the most recent film from Francis Ford Coppola. After literal decades of trying to get it made, the filmmaker finally decided to put up (reportedly) more than $100 million of his own money to get the film made. It’s been a the big passion project for the legendary filmmaker. As mentioned, the film had its world premiere at Cannes and divided critics. It’s apparently a big swing for Coppola. 

And now, the film doesn’t have a trailer anymore. 

“Megalopolis” is set to debut in theaters on September 27.