Box Office: ‘Megalopolis’ Bombs With D+ CinemaScore, ‘Wild Robot’ Soars to No. 1

Given the negative audience score and mixed reviews, Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million passion project might not even clear $5 million in its domestic debut.

DreamWorks Animation and Universal’s family film The Wild Robot is charming moviegoers and audiences both, boasting both a stellar 98 percent Rotten Tomatoes critics score and a 98 percent audience score, not to mention an A CinemaScore from moviegoers — if only the love were being shared around.

In one of the low periods of his lengthy and remarkable career, Francis Ford Coppola saw viewers virtually reject his new film Megalopolis (numerous critics also attacked it). The movie might not even surpass $4.5 million in its domestic launch and got a terrible D+ CinemaScore from viewers.

The Wild Robot will have no issue arriving at No. 1 with an opening in the $35 million at this pace. Although that’s ahead of projections, many had anticipated the movie would do great business, especially after Paramount and Hasbro Entertainment’s fellow PG animated feature Transformers One began under predictions with $24.6 million to cede the top place to the third weekend of Beetlejuice Beetlejuise.

Looking to get fanboys in addition to children and parents, Transformers One aims to drop a steep 63 percent in its second outing to an expected $9 million. That ranks third out of Wild Robot and the smash Beetlejuice sequel from Warner Bros.

Inspired by Peter Brown’s renowned bestseller on a robot named ROZ who unexpectedly bonds with an orphaned gosling and other species after being shipwrecked on a lonely island, Wild Robot is Directing and writing the film, Oscar contender Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods) offers a tale of the link between nature and technology.

Along with Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames, Lupita Nyong’o, Kit Connor, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, and Stephanie Hsu lead the highly prominent voice cast.

Megalopolis ranks sixth in terms of finish. Respected as Coppola is, no major Hollywood studio would go on to fund or distribute the expensive $120 million film in North America after seeing the film at an early buyer’s screening before its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it earned primarily lukewarm reviews. Coppola’s epic reworking of the Roman Empire in modern-day New York City on the verge of collapse stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, and Shia LaBeouf.

Lionsgate finally signed on to release the film nationally but is not liable for marketing or distribution expenses. After the director shot parts of the film using Imax-certified cameras, Imax is also in Coppola’s corner; Megalopolis booked to play in about 200 Imax theaters, or roughly half the large-format’s circuit, during chosen showtimes.

Before a viewing of his new film at the New York Film Festival last week, Coppola compared the plot of the movie to the political climate of the United States right now, implying that the presidential contest of 2024 could reflect the fall of Rome. Supported by Imax, his remarks were broadcast into 65 cinemas around the United States and Canada.

It did not seem to work if Coppola was trying to energize critics of the Republican presidential contender.
Nor, as it turns it, are supporters of Trump hurrying to see Vindicating Trump, the most recent documentary by conservative commentator and Trump backer Dinesh D’Souza that looks at the challenges confronting the GOP nominee in his attempt to retake the Oval Office.

Made in association with Trump, who has personally been marketing the film, D’Souza’s doc is showing in 813 theaters domestically but may have difficulties grossing much more than $820,000. Handling Vindicating Trump in North America, faith-based distributor SDG—home of the record-breaking mockumentary Am I Racist—is Highlights include D’Souza interviewing Trump following a bullet clipped from a would-be assassin cutting his ear.
Five New York and Los Angeles locations of Sony’s Saturday Night – a love tribute to the long-running NBC sketch-comedy show Saturday Night Live — are launching at the specialty box office. The movie is likely to show a good per-location average of $51,000.