UPDATE: 2025-06-06 20:26 EST BY RACHEL LABONTE
Lionsgate Pulls The Megalopolis Trailer After Controversy
Following therelease of theMegalopolistrailer, reports surfaced online noting that the critical quotes featured were inaccurate, as none of the quotes were featured in their respective reviews. In the aftermath, Lionsgate removed the trailer online and a Lionsgate spokesman issued a statement toScreen Rantthat said:
Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis.' 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.
The original article continues below.
Summary
A new trailer has been released forMegalopolis. Francis Ford Coppola’s high-concept sci-fi drama is about an architect who seeks to rebuild New York City into a utopia following a huge disaster. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this spring and will get a wider domestic release on July 22, 2025.Megalopolisfeatures a leading castincluding Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talie Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, and Grace VanderWaal.
Now,Lionsgatehas released the latest trailer forMegalopolis.
After a voiceover says “true genius is often misunderstood,” the trailer transitions to a short montage of the bad reviews that have surfaced in Coppola’s career, in a filmography timeline that includesThe GodfatherandApocalypse Now. The scene then transitions to a moment withinMegalopoliswhere Driver’s character stands on the top of a building and controls traffic, as the voiceover continues to say that “one director has always been ahead of his time.” The trailer’s fast-paced final moments show the character continuing on his utopian building tasks, as he works to construct the titular Megalopolis.
Is This Megalopolis Trailer Predicting The Film’s Future?
That Future May Not Look Positive…
ThisMegalopolistrailer is clearly influenced by Coppola’s perspective, and not just because it hinges on him being a genius. It also echoes things that the director has said before surrounding works of his likeApocalypseNowbeing misunderstood. Responding toMegalopolisreviews, the director noted back in April that there were “very contradictory viewsexpressed” aboutApocalypse Now,but the film stood the test of time and is “very profitable” even today. The trailer forMegalopolisseems to adopt a similar stance.
But by using films from over four decades ago as examples of those that have held up over the years, the editing of the latestMegalopolistrailerseems to indicate that even if the film will find its audience eventually, it might not necessarily do well now. There is some truth to this stance already, as the early reviews gaveMegalopolisa mixed 53% on Rotten Tomatoes. This latest trailer echoes Coppola’s assertion thatMegalopolis' critics will be proven wrong, and everyone will only come to realize the film’s genius later on.
A month out from release, it will be interesting to see howMegalopolis' predicted critical demise aligns (or misaligns) with how the film does at the box office. Reports say that theMegalopolisbudget is somewhere in the camp of $120 million, so even if it doesn’t have a major studio’s marketing spend, it will need to play like a blockbuster to make a profit. Even with the IMAX push, this is a hefty sum for a high-concept, non-summer film likeMegalopolis, so the chance that the film loses money is still entirely a possibility.
Megalopolis
Cast
Megalopolis, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a visionary 2024 film exploring the ambitious dream of reconstructing New York City into a utopia, following a devastating disaster. The narrative delves into the clash between the architect’s utopian vision and the political and personal turmoil that ensues. With a star-studded cast, the film examines themes of ambition, power, and the human spirit’s resilience against the backdrop of a futuristic metropolis.
