While many beloved filmmakers working today have embraced the streaming model as a viable way to release movies, Francis Ford Coppola is fighting back, and says that streaming will never live up to the experience of watching a movie in the cinema. Coppola recently returned to theaters with his self-funded, controversial “masterpiece?” Megalopolis. The movie struggled to find a distributor during its production, as Coppola pumped a reported $120 million of his own money into the movie. While Megalopolis eventually landed a theatrical release, courtesy of Lionsgate, it appears that Coppola would never have settled for any one of the countless streaming services as an alternative.
As shared by Discussing Film, Francis Ford Coppola shared his unfiltered opinion on streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video. Before criticizing their lack of quality, Coppola attacked them from an existential standpoint. According to him, “streaming” is just a newer, fancier way of saying “home video.” He began:
“Streaming is a dumb phrase because, what it really is, we’ve always had it. It’s called home video.”
Say what you will about Megalopolis as a movie, but it’s hard to deny that Francis Ford Coppola is passionate about executing his creative vision with as few corporate influences and overlords as possible. The director went on to criticize streaming for its business-first model, saying that most streamers prioritize subscriptions over quality movies — which is slightly ironic considering major studios had the same concern about Megalopolis filling theaters. Coppola said:
“Streaming moves in a direction of a business model, where they’re trying to get subscriptions. And,
to me, it’s anti-art.
Better that people go to a big theater — not a multiplex, but a real theater and see a movie with 300 people. I still remember going to see Bridge On the River Kwai, or Lawrence of Arabia. I’ll never forget it. And you can’t have that experience just in your living room.”
Francis Ford Coppola failed to elaborate on why multiplexes do not count as “real theaters,” or why 300 is the optimal audience size (maybe he’s a big fan of Zack Snyder).
Megalopolis Could Be a Major Box Office Flop
As easy as it is to criticize Megalopolis due to its shaky marketing campaign and numerous controversies, Coppola’s dedication to his creative vision has to be commended. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be commended financially. Early forecasts for Megalopolis‘s opening weekend mean that Coppola won’t be buying back his wine yard anytime soon, as the movie is forecast to bring home around $5-7 million.
If Megalopolis flops as badly as forecasts are suggesting, it wouldn’t just be a major financial blow for Francis Ford Coppola, but also for Lionsgate, who have injected a substantial sum of cash into the film’s marketing efforts. Lionsgate had an uncharacteristically weak second half of 2024. Megalopolis could be their third major flop after Borderlands and The Crow both failed to capture audiences’ attention just a few months ago.
Megalopolis
is finally screening in theaters.