DreamWorks' latest film, The Wild Robot managed to overcome initial tracking and deliver a great debut. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had to go to second, while Transformers One had a horrible drop.
But the big story this weekend ain't that of success, but colossal failure. And that is Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, which was his first film in 13 years. But even with a $120 million budget, this film failed to attract interest and managed to debut even lower than Devara: Part 1.
The top 10 earned a combined $83.1 million this weekend. This marked a 6.7% increase from last year, when ***PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie***, ***Saw X*** and ***The Creator*** opened.
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Debuting in first place, DreamWorks' ***The Wild Robot*** earned $35.7 million in 3,962 theaters. That's not as strong as ***Kung Fu Panda 4*** ($57.9 million) earlier this year, but that's to be expected, given that is part of a popular franchise. It's the company's best debut for a non-franchise since ***The Boss Baby*** ($50 million).
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Even though it was one week apart from ***Transformers One***, there were a lot of things on ***The Wild Robot***'s favor. Since the first trailer dropped, buzz was already building and it was clear this could become a sleeper hit. In contrast, the first trailer for ***Transformers One*** was ignored for its childish tone. DreamWorks also knew the film would be a critical darling, so they hosted a lot of premieres to build awareness. And that paid off; the film is sitting at an incredible 98% in Rotten Tomatoes, which is one of the best ever for DreamWorks and animation in general. That was enough to convince families that this should be their animation priority.
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According to Universal, 52% of the audience was male and 58% was 25 and over. They gave it a strong "A" on CinemaScore, suggesting some great word of mouth. The film won't have animated competition till ***Moana 2*** in November (some will mention ***Piece by Piece*** but that's unlikely to share the same audience), leaving it with a perfect window for families. It should incredibly well; for now, a $120 million run is on the way, and it could also get close to $150 million.
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In second place, ***Beetlejuice Beetlejuice*** added $16.2 million. That's a 37% drop, which it's the best one yet. Through the month, the film has earned $250.3 million domestically.
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In third place, Paramount's ***Transformers One*** earned $9.1 million this weekend. That represents an awful 63% drop, which is just horrible for an animated title. It's eerily close to the drop that ***Lightyear*** had on its second weekend (64%).
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Obviously, ***The Wild Robot*** stole its audience, but that's still quite a rough drop. Through ten days, the film has made just $39 million domestically. While it won't face animated competition anymore, the numbers are low enough that it won't be saved by this point. By this point, the film finish with around $60 million, assuming it doesn't continue freefalling.
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In fourth place, ***Devara: Part 1*** debuted with $5.6 million in 1,040 theaters. Of course, the big story is overseas, where the film has earned $32.9 million so far.
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Universal's ***Speak No Evil*** eased just 27% and added $4.2 million this weekend. The film's domestic total stands at $28 million.
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Alright, now let's get to the big one.
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Somehow Francis Ford Coppola returned. We can't blame you if you thought "wait, he's still alive?", given that he has not directed a film in 13 years. Actually, considering how his films in the 21st century barely got a theatrical release, this is his first big release since ***The Rainmaker*** back in 1997. So yeah, 27 years since he made something notable.
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The film is ***Megalopolis***, which he self-financed at $120 million by selling a portion of his winery. But unsurprisingly, the film did not perform well. Or good. Or okay. Or tolerable. Or mediocre. Or bad. It did disastrous; it earned an abysmal $4 million in 1,854 theaters, finishing in sixth place. The worst debut for any film that cost $100 million. For comparison, Kevin Costner also self-financed ***Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1*** this year, and made $11 million. That's also another self-financed director's flop.
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Even unadjusted for inflation, the debut is quite terrible for Coppola's standards. It's below ***The Outsiders*** ($5 million), ***Peggy Sue Got Married*** ($6.9 million), ***The Rainmaker*** ($10.6 million), ***Jack*** ($11.1 million), ***The Godfather Part III*** ($19.5 million), and ***Bram Stoker's Dracula*** ($30.5 million). And it gets even lower when we start adjusting inflation, which means ***Tucker: The Man and His Dream***, ***The Cotton Club*** and ***Gardens of Stone*** also earned more money.
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There's a lot of things that went wrong here, that it makes us wonder if anything went right in the first place. Coppola conceived the idea for the film back in 1977, while filming ***Apocalypse Now***. In 1983, he was finally developing the film, devoting so much research. The film was stuck in development hell until Coppola made it his mission to make it after ***The Rainmaker***. Progress was made in 2001, when Coppola finally assembled some actors and settled on a $80 million budget. However, the film was scrapped after 9/11, as the plot had some resemblance to the tragedy. It wasn't until 2019 when Coppola finally decided to self-finance the film by selling a portion of his winery. That's 47 years devoted to one single film.
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But here's the thing; Coppola is not the powerhouse he once was. Yes, he is revered as one of the biggest contributors to cinema thanks to ***The Godfather***, ***The Godfather Part II***, ***The Conversation***, and ***Apocalypse Now***. Clearly an important figure in the 70s.
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And that's the thing: we ain't in the 70s. After ***Apocalypse Now***, Coppola kept making films, yet none of them came anywhere close to the reception these four classics achieved. And it's not just that they weren't fantastic, it's that some of them are quite bad. The 80s were a brutal run for Coppola, given that nearly all of his films in the decade were financial duds. Facing financial problems, Coppola had to reluctantly accept Paramount's offer to make ***The Godfather Part III***. It was a success, but it was widely considered weaker than the previous films, and Coppola himself admitted to only doing it for money. ***Dracula*** was a success, even if it wasn't well-received, and the rest of his films were money losers. His past three films, ***Youth Without Youth***, ***Tetro*** and ***Twixt***, don't even exist.
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Coppola became a director during the 60s and 70s, an era which saw the likes of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas (all four are friends) also debuting. But compared to Spielberg and Scorsese, Coppola clearly peaked in the 70s and has struggled to find something that could connect with audiences. That's why it's tough to get people excited for ***Megalopolis***: the Coppola you admired is not the Coppola of today.
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The film is sold under a huge cast, yet absolutely no one here carries any star power. Adam Driver has starred in a lot of flops, including last year's ***65*** and ***Ferrari***. Giancarlo Esposito is well known for ***Breaking Bad***, but that does not guarantee people will pay to watch him in anything. The same goes to other stars like Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and Kathryn Hunter. Then there's the problematic stars on the cast, which includes domestic abuser Shia LaBeouf and notorious prick Jon Voight. It's a film that despite being sold on star power, it was anything but.
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Skipping festivals, Coppola wanted a $100 million marketing campaign and got in a bidding war with the studios, but all turned it down. He subsequently decided to premiere it in Cannes, hoping it would find a distributor. But the film received polarizing reactions, and there were no distributors interested. Eventually, Lionsgate, which distributed the home video releases of his films, finally agreed to distribute it. And even then, Coppola wouldn't get his big marketing campaign; he had to pay a further $20 million for marketing. Lionsgate is not really gonna lose anything here; for a distribution fee and some percentage points based on box office, it will make $3–5 million regardless of how much money it gets.
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The marketing has also done a poor job in getting people excited for the film. The trailers sold the film as an ambitious project with a lot of camp and weirdness. While that may be enough for some, the trailers still need to give an idea of who these characters are and what the plot is. And the marketing just gave vague information. While it's okay to go in blind, the audience still needs to have an idea of what the film is about. And that's without even mentioning the [fake quotes trailer](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/megalopolis-trailer-fake-quotes-ai-lionsgate-1236116485/).
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Finally, there's the fact that the film is simply not the universally beloved the film it could be. It received polarizing reactions in Cannes, and it's currently at 49% on RT. If an adult drama wants a chance to succeed, it needs to prove it will be worth the audience's time. And ***Megalopolis*** simply wasn't. Basically, it's an entire combination of so many things going wrong for the film.
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According to Lionsgate, 70% of the audience was male and 38% was 35 and over. They gave it a putrid "D+" on CinemaScore, which is just awful all around. The film is not gonna last long in theaters, and it's very likely it will miss $10 million, which is just disastrous for a $120 million movie. As mentioned, Lionsgate won't be affected. The big loser will be Coppola, who just lit $140 million on fire. He has said that this is not intended to be his final film and has some projects in the works. Whether that comes to fruition remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: he will not get anything from the big studios and he will have to do it himself again.
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Big ***Medellin*** vibes. Like, seriously. The exact same trajectory: passion project goes to Cannes for distributor, is a disaster and just flops. And remember that Billy Walsh could not direct anything after that disaster.
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In seventh place, ***Deadpool & Wolverine*** eased 27% and added $2.7 million this weekend. That takes its domestic total to $631.3 million.
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Lionsgate's ***Never Let Go*** added $2.2 million this weekend. That's a 50% drop, which is not terrible considering its weak reception. But with $8.2 million after just ten days, it's nothing to write home about.
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Amazon MGM expanded ***My Old Ass*** after a limited release, sending it into 1,390 theaters. It jumped to $2.1 million this weekend, taking its domestic total to $2.8 million.
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Studio Ghibli's ***Howl's Moving Castle*** returned to theaters for its 20th anniversary. In 1,592 theaters, it earned $2.1 million.
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Outside the Top 10, Mubi's ***The Substance*** added $2 million this weekend. This is an insane 36% drop, which is just crazy for a horror title. The film has earned $7.1 million so far.
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Ahead of its nationwide release on October 11, Sony released Jason Reitman's ***Saturday Night*** in 5 theaters. The film debuted with $270,000, which translates to $54,000 per-theater average. That's the second best per-theater average of the year, behind ***Kinds of Kindness*** ($75,458). Of course, a good performance in limited release does not guarantee success in wide release (***Kinds of Kindness*** did not break out, earning just $5 million). But so far, it's a solid start. The real test will be in two weeks.
**OVERSEAS**
***Transformers One*** led the overseas markets, but its $16.6 million weekend was still quite weak, even if it's currently at 61 markets. Through this, the film has earned $71.8 million worldwide, which is still less than its $75 million budget. It had an okay debut in China ($8M), but it was weak in South Korea ($1.4M), Brazil ($660K), Italy ($590K), Colombia ($360K) and Peru ($337K). While it has markets like Germany, UK and France left, it's unlikely it will make a difference.
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***Beetlejuice Beetlejuice*** added $13.6 million this weekend, taking its worldwide total to $373.5 million. It reached its final market, Japan, but it disappointed with just $971K. The best markets are the UK ($27.6M), Mexico ($17.1M), France ($11.3M), Australia ($7.7M) and Spain ($7.7M).
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DreamWorks' ***The Wild Robot*** expanded to 29 markets, adding $9.9 million for a $53.9 million worldwide total. It opened in Mexico with $3.7 million, it added $5 million in China, and it actually increased in Australia for a $4.6 million run. As mentioned, very few markets for now, and it will continue its expansion in the coming weeks.
**FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK**
None.
**THIS WEEKEND**
The big release is Lionsgate's ***White Bird***… nah, just kidding.
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Anyway, it's the arrival of ***Joker: Folie à Deux***. Joaquin Phoenix is now joined by Lady Gaga. The original ***Joker*** was a colossal success, becoming the first R-rated film to gross $1 billion and winning multiple awards. However, catching lightning twice is incredibly hard. WB also upped the budget to $200 million, even if Todd Phillips himself says that's not the case. The film already premiered in Venice, receiving polarizing reactions just like the first film. What's alarming, however, is that the pre-sales are paling in comparison to the original. Add in to the weird musical mix into an R-rated comic book movie, and it looks like the film is already guaranteed to finish below the original. It's just a matter of how low.
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The big question now for the film is… will it *die with a smile*?
by SanderSo47