Megalopolis, legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in 14 years, is one of 2024’s most notable movies for two reasons. First, it is the decades-in-development self-funded passion project of a cinematic titan, and second, no one wants to distribute it. On paper, that’s plenty baffling, but it only becomes more so when you see what the film looks like.
An urban fantasy about an idealist who seeks to rebuild a New York City-like metropolis into a utopia following a disaster, the trailer is mostly a montage of dreams and decadence. Statues walk, chariots race in Madison Square Garden, and Adam Driver ruminates on the nature of utopias.
At just a minute and a half, the trailer is awe-inspiring (even on a phone screen), with little context for the narrative. It’s the platonic ideal of movie marketing: Win, lose or draw, the trailer sells Megalopolis as something that must be seen, preferably in a theater. Let’s hope that after the film premieres at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we get the chance to see it, and very soon at that.
Source: https://www.polygon.com/24156434/megalopolis-trailer