Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis might have a distributor

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1]

Francis Ford Coppola

Photo: Lev Radin/EuropaNewsWire

Last week, cinephiles found a horse's head in their bed when The Hollywood Reporter announced that no one in Hollywood has the guts to release Francis Ford Coppola's latest passion project, Megalopolis. Even though Hollywood is releasing a film called Deadpool & Wolverine this summer, the lack of clear good guys and bad guys made Megalopolis a tough sell in the eyes of Hollywood executives. Others commented that a scene featuring Jon Voight's character in bed "with what looks like a huge erection" was too "cringey" for our mid box office ecosystem. Bet.

Jessica M. Thompson on "The Invitation" and everyone's favorite horror trope

Coppola only makes passion projects and has only done so since he made The Godfather in 1972. Even when he returns to genre movies with well-known characters and big stars, the result is Bram Stoker's Dracula, a massive hit despite being weird as hell. But because no one person on Earth would see a movie that features the words "From The Director of The Godfather" or "Starring Adam Driver" on the poster, Hollywood studios passed on Coppola's self-financed latest.

But as the saying goes, if the Johnny Depp comeback vehicle can find a distributor, so too can Megalopolis. Ironically, that might be the same distributor. Per Variety, Coppola is talking to French distributor Le Pacte at Cannes ahead of the premiere. Variety notes that this is a "huge step" for the movie because if Megalopolis is not distributed in French theaters, it cannot compete in the Cannes Film Festival. Also worth noting: France also has a great law that requires streaming services to wait 15 months after a theatrical release before a movie can end up on streamers, which is probably great for theaters and physical media sales.

Le Pacte is a smaller firm that has recently found considerable success. Last year, it distributed Anatomy Of A Fall, which won an Oscar and introduced 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." to steel drums. Next, the distributor plans to release Maiwenn's Jeanne du Barry, which stars Depp in his first role since the Amber Heard trial.