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Francis Ford Coppola's sci-fi epic Megalopolis has received its first reviews after premiering at Cannes, and to say it's been divisive would be an understatement. Starring the likes of Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza, the much-talked-about latest from The Godfather director has become one of the most anticipated films of the year.
This is thanks in no small part to several surreal-looking trailers, some wild first reactions, and a split between reviews calling it both one of the best and worst films of 2024 so far. So if that's piqued your interest as much as it has ours, then you're in the right place.
Below, we've compiled a guide to all of the details released about Megalopolis so far, including its cast, trailers, and what Coppola has said about it. We've also looked at its predicted release date, as it looks set to land a wide release later this year.
Megalopolis release date
Megalopolis premiered at Cannes on May 16, 2024, but it doesn't yet have a wider release date.
Per a report by Deadline, the current plan is for the movie to be released later in 2024 with a "limited IMAX release". There's some suggestion too that this may begin in September. No distributor is attached yet, which is why there's no official release date. We'll keep you updated as soon as we have more news on when it will be coming to theaters in the US, UK, and beyond.
Megalopolis review
The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival to some very divisive reactions. Our Megalopolis review gave it two stars.
Reviewer Anna Smith writes: "Lofty ideas and meta references to Coppola suggest that this is a personal ode to his art, and given that the writer/director has worked on it for some 40 years, it’s clearly a passion project. But it is hard to share his reverence for his narrative when the dialogue is mannered to the point of distraction, and each performance seems to come from a different movie."
Currently, the film's Rotten Tomatoes score sits at 50%, with reviews ranging from one star to five stars.
Megalopolis cast
The Megalopolis cast is seriously star-studded, featuring rising stars as well as some frequent Coppola collaborators. Check out the full list below:
- Adam Driver – Cesar Catilina
- Giancarlo Esposito – Mayor Franklyn Cicero
- Nathalie Emmanuel – Julia Cicero
- Aubrey Plaza – Wow Platinum
- Shia LaBeouf – Clodio Pulcher
- Jon Voight – Hamilton Crassus III
- Jason Schwartzman – Jason Zanderz
- Talia Shire – Constance Crassus Catilina
- Grace VanderWaal – Vesta Sweetwater
- Laurence Fishburne – Fundi Romaine
- Kathryn Hunter – Teresa Cicero
- Dustin Hoffman – Nush "The Fixer" Berman
Megalopolis plot
Megalopolis is set in a decaying New York City-like metropolis called New Rome. Adam Driver plays idealistic architect Cesar Catilina with the ability to stop time. The film begins with his big plans to rebuild the city as a sustainable utopia. However, his main opposition – Mayor Franklyn Cicero – is determined to keep the struggling city stuck in its old ways. Torn between the two men is Julia, Cicero's daughter and Cesar's girlfriend, who is searching for the meaning of life.
The film has been a long time in the making for Coppola, who shared his vision with Vanity Fair. "I wasn’t really working on this screenplay for 40 years as I often see written, but rather I was collecting notes and clippings for a scrapbook of things I found interesting for some future screenplay, or examples of political cartoons or different historical subjects," he said when debuting the first image.
"Ultimately, after a lot of time, I settled on the idea of a Roman epic. And then later, a Roman epic set in modern America, so I really only began writing this script, on and off, in the last dozen years or so. Also, as I have made many films of many different subjects and in many different styles, I hoped for a project later in life when I might better understand what my personal style was."
Megalopolis trailer
There have been a couple of Megalopolis trailers so far. The first was just a teaser showing Driver on top of a skyscraper stopping time. However, the main trailer, which you can watch above, is even more surreal.
In it, Laurence Fishburne’s Fundi Romaine is driving around as he says in a voiceover: "When does an empire die? Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No, no, but there comes a time when its people no longer believe in it." It also featured the first real looks at Aubrey Plaza and Shia LaBeouf, as well as moving statues and neon-infused scenes.
For more upcoming movies, here's our guide to 2024 movie release dates.
