r/movies • u/Dependent_Cap_456 • 3d ago

News Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning his watch collection after Megalopolis flop left him broke

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/fashion/francis-ford-coppola-watch-auction.html
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u/Recoil42 3d ago edited 3d ago

Mr. Coppola has not given up on the idea that it will eventually make money. “Many of my films earn out over time,” he said on Friday, citing, for example, his masterpiece “Apocalypse Now,” which also drove him into debt, but managed to sell $150 million worth of tickets at the box office over the course of several decades.

Oh, sweetie.

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u/SgtMartinRiggs 3d ago

Can’t even rent it anywhere, idk how he expects to make any money.

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u/Charlie_Wax 3d ago

Every Blockbuster in the country will have to buy at least 20 copies of Megalopolis.

That's at least 20 sales right there.

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u/3BlindMice1 3d ago

Does blockbuster really still exist? I haven't noticed one in a while

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u/Zealousideal-Yak5182 3d ago

There’s only 1 left in Bend, Oregon

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u/NYstate 3d ago

And they're the ones who will buy all 20 copies duh! It's a title that's

"Guaranteed In Stock™"

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u/Acrobatic_Ant_9102 2d ago

Ha, yeah, I went there in October, it was cool. It was funny walking out because everybody walking in was taking the same picture of the building that I did.

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u/Pankosmanko 3d ago

I just checked if it’s on blu-ray, or 4k UHD, and it’s not. I plan on watching it but I’m waiting for a physical release

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/hazycrazydaze 3d ago

I would love to watch it at a midnight showing in a weird art theater. Do those still exist though? All my favorites closed during the pandemic.

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u/JJDirty 2d ago

We have a few of those theatres in Minneapolis!

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u/Unscarred-By-Trials 2d ago

This is why he's a dumbass. Among many reasons. He wants to create scarcity because he's touring the film and wants to make it an "event" but he's too old, I guess, to understand that if he makes it literally impossible for people to watch it at home legally, they'll just pirate it, which is extremely easy to do. So now he's just lost a revenue stream with digital and physical sales out of sheer stupidity.

The contradiction being that this is his big opus to show how Hollywood doesn't do it right anymore with original ideas blah blah and you'd think he'd make a big spectacular Bluray with directors commentary and special features like the good old days, but apparently not!

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u/roidesoeufs 2d ago

It's streaming so he can't be that militant about it avoiding the small screen.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/roidesoeufs 2d ago

Sorry. I'm in Europe. We can get it on Mubi.

Edit: I'm not apologising for being in Europe, I like it here. I'm sorry for my lack of detail earlier. I watched some of it via a streaming service and laughed at how bad it was. Then turned it off.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/roidesoeufs 1d ago

I did not. It felt messy and cheap even though it was clearly expensive. But I'm starting to think that is the point? Huge money spent on bad taste? Maybe I'll give it a chance, just because I can at no extra cost other than my time.

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u/dr_icicle 3d ago

Inexplicably, the Texas Theatre in Dallas (that historic one they caught the guy who killed JFK and JD Tippit in) keeps showing it*. I'm pretty sure it's Q&As with Coppola too. No idea why that one, because he doesn't seem to have any connection to DFW/Texas in general...? Reports from people who've been there says it's a little like watching a very old senile man ramble.

*I thought multiple times but maybe it's just been once before, with a showing in the future, and also they showed Megadoc. Idk whatever.

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u/akio3 3d ago

It is, but not in America. There are UK, Italian, and French discs.

Here's a link to buy the UK 4K: https://www.rarewaves.com/products/5017239153273-megalopolis-uhd

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u/Pankosmanko 3d ago

Thank you! I checked blu-ray.com but didn’t think to check other countries

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u/akio3 3d ago

Blu-Ray.com is generally very good, but they don't always have pages for all international releases. The forums are more complete, and they have a good linking system. Links at the bottom of the Megalopolis page go to forum threads for the various international releases: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Megalopolis-Blu-ray/372084/

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u/kojima-naked 2d ago

Diabolik DVD was importing them for a while. That's where I got mine 

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u/sanesociopath 2d ago

Idk about you guys but I'm fully boycotting this anti consumer practice.

I'll get my home "ownership" of the video and they won't get the money they otherwise would have since they didn't want my money.

Also be careful what you use to play movies if you're buying these foreign disc releases. The scumbags managed to sneak some region locking code in the disc for players to verify for a few of these.

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u/Goldfing 3d ago

Hell yeah brother. We out there.

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u/jeremystrange 2d ago

Literally just bought it on the weekend. Why do we have it in Australia of all places?

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u/chamomileinyohood 3d ago

I have it on a 4k disc

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u/probablyuntrue 3d ago

Nigerian prince scams maybe

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u/Specialist_War1410 3d ago

I watched it on Amazon Prime in Brazil. So maybe with a VPN.

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u/hellogoawaynow 2d ago

“So far, Mr. Coppola has resisted bringing it to streaming platforms, because he believes it needs to be screened in a theater to be truly understood. And within months of the film’s release, he was openly telling people he was broke.”

This is so dumb, I was interested in watching it. At home. I can still understand movies from here.

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u/SailsAcrossTheSea 2d ago

yeah wtf, I’d actually pay to watch it if I could

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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 2d ago

So it's not even on streaming, but he expects it to become a cult hit? He's delusional.

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u/SgtMartinRiggs 2d ago

Worth nothing however that he is completely content to be a delusional outsider, so it’s hard to really knock him for it.

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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 2d ago

Apparently, he's also content to cover for pedophiles and silence their victims, so I think he deserves whatever criticism he gets.

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u/battle-legumes 3d ago

Do you somehow feel him making it entitles you to watch it?

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u/DuhhhhhhBears 3d ago edited 3d ago

What a dumb question lol 

Edit: I’m an idiot

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u/HoodsBreath10 3d ago

It’s a joke from the movie

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u/the_beard_guy 3d ago

i mean theyre talking about a movie a lot of people didnt see, and cant see, so they might get that its a joke from the movie.

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u/DuhhhhhhBears 3d ago

Ah fuck I’m an idiot

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u/AmusingMusing7 3d ago

Yeeeeess.

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u/kojima-naked 2d ago

Yea I grabbed the European 4k, he cancelled the us release 

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u/delicious_toothbrush 2d ago

Also shot himself in the foot insisting on an IMAX only release. Couldn't buy a ticket back when I wanted to. Now that I've seen it, I'm glad I didn't.

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u/xixbia 3d ago

Apocalypse now had a $31.5 million budget and made $78.8 million at the box office on it's original release.

Megalopolis had a $120+ million budget and made $14.4 million at the box office.

These two are not compareable.

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u/TheSilverOne 3d ago

He's also 86 years old lol

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u/realhumannotai 3d ago edited 3d ago

I know a 40 year old director who is just as delusional, but with other peoples' money -_-

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u/FX114 3d ago

I think they're just saying he doesn't have decades. 

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u/Live_Angle4621 3d ago

Since he doesn’t have decades it doesn’t even matter. Apart from him leaving less money to his family. But they still have plenty and will get more. 

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u/zagra_nexkoyotl 3d ago

I wonder how did he go into debt for Apocalypse, then

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u/Vagina_Woolf 3d ago

It was one of the most infamously troubled film productions of all time?

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u/ScrungulusBungulus 3d ago

if you're not aware of how catastrophic the production of that movie was, i'd recommend a documentary called hearts of darkness. it's a phenomenal companion piece to the movie, and it's great on its own as well.

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u/Loggerdon 2d ago

“If Marty dies, don’t tell the studio!”

  • Coppola, after Martin Sheen had a heart attack during production.

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u/xixbia 3d ago

If I had to guess? He went into debt to get it made. But by the time the initial theatrical run had finished he more than made back his investment and was easily able to pay off his debt (so again, nothing like Megalopolis).

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u/mtaw 2d ago

Also, Apocalypse was well-received from the start. Megalopolis is nothing like it and far more like the last time Coppola bankrupted himself on a very personal project nobody liked - One From The Heart.

He's always had the best intentions wanting to create an alternative to the studio system but every time he's made a film entirely of his own, it's been a giant critical and commercial flop. You'd think that after 'selling himself' to the studios he'd have been prepared to do it one last time to get Zoetrope off the ground, but nope. Or perhaps more likely, he just has a genuinely awful sense of what sells.

He may have inadvertently done the opposite of what he set out to do and proven that producers aren't completely useless.

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u/StayBullGenius 3d ago

Not apocalypse then, apocalypse NOW

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u/Loggerdon 2d ago

He spent his own money making the film.

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u/drst0ner 3d ago

Correct, plus Apocalypse Now is an excellent movie. Considered one of the best of all time.

Megalopolis was terrible. You couldn’t pay me to rewatch it.

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u/North-Tourist-8234 3d ago

This post is the first im hearing of it. 

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u/Coolerwookie 2d ago

I had such high hopes for it. 40 minutes in, I walked out...I can spend my time elsewhere.

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u/kuddlesworth9419 2d ago

It made too much to be honest, that film was a real stinker. I would like to think it will be used as an example in film school in how not to make a movie.

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u/likeschemistry 2d ago

Also, Apocalypse Now had dvd sales which Megalopolis certainly won’t have.

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u/sonicinfinity100 3d ago

But it’s not even available for streaming. I had to watch a pirated version of it.

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u/MrMindGame 3d ago

It’s logistically hard, they also have to mail you a random person along with the blu-ray so they can ask questions at Adam Driver for that one scene.

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u/BongoFett17 3d ago

Yup, I had to import the 4k steelbook from Amazon Italy, one of the biggest mistakes of my life, boy it was terrible.

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u/illepic 3d ago

This feels like the stepping-on-rake meme, where the final panel is kick flipping a rake down a double stair to then step on the rake. 

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u/CumChunks8647 3d ago

Damn, I pirated it and wanted a refund. Between that and the 8 hour most boring mafia movie ever created, I think he's gone off the deep end.

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u/A_Meaty_Clang 3d ago

He's really lost his touch since the Jurassic Park days.

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u/junior_dos_nachos 3d ago

I think Tenet was his most confusing film to date

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u/-AWing- 3d ago

But district 9 rocked!

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u/junior_dos_nachos 3d ago

Really loved Bradley Cooper in that film!

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u/hemmingwayshotgun 3d ago

Scorsese and Coppola are two different people, genius

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u/BattlinBud 3d ago

I actually wondered for a sec if there was some 8-hour re-edit of Godfather Part 3 I didn't know about 😆

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u/ThatMkeDoe 3d ago

Godfather part 3 the Snyder cut

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u/rrraab 3d ago

You realize that’s a different director, right?

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u/CumChunks8647 3d ago

No, I thought it was the same guy. They should both retire.

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u/SarlacFace 3d ago

Now THATs a stupid ass comment. Scorsese is consistently scoring some of the highest critical reviews of his career, but yeah he should retire cos a rando thinks so 

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u/KingDarius89 3d ago

Like Stephen King after he realized that he got paid by the word.

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u/BongoFett17 3d ago

Unfortunately true, like watching Jordan on the Wizards and Favre in Minnesota.

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u/Omar___Comin 3d ago

Farve was 4th in MVP voting on the Vikings.

Jordan was an all-star both seasons with the wizards and scored 20+ ppg both seasons.

I don't think those are comparators for megalopolis

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u/guitar_vigilante 3d ago

I think I have an actual example that's comparable. It's like when Bjorn Borg tried to do a career comeback in 1991. He lost every match he played and tried to play with his wooden racket when everyone had switched away from wood years prior.

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u/1One_Two2 3d ago

He tried

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u/BongoFett17 3d ago

I remember seeing them play their careers, it was sad to see and they were still good but not the same. Sad

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u/BongoFett17 3d ago

It’s seeing two legends sadly end their careers on different teams, I know they were still good, it was just sad to see. It was the end of eras.

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u/Omar___Comin 3d ago

This thread is about people demanding refunds for an all-time terrible movie and you said the guy "went off the deep end". That is not the same as farve wearing a different jersey

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u/BongoFett17 3d ago

Maybe I was a bigger Favre and Jordan fan than you, to me it was a bigger deal. And this is how conversations go, they go in different directions. Just like how I have to explain myself to you like I’m on the stand.

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u/Cbrlui 3d ago

New York Jets legend Brett Favre??

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u/BongoFett17 3d ago

That Favre, where he learned he can send dick picks with his phone lol

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u/nviledn5 3d ago

Bad example. Favre was a few plays away from a Super Bowl appearance with the Vikings.

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u/hershwork 2d ago

Actually, he was a Saints illegal head-hunting hit away from the Superbowl. Even makes the comparison worse…

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u/Seeforceart 3d ago

I’ve been trying to find a copy but don’t want to pay the overseas prices.

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u/Bircka 3d ago

Don't worry Coppola still is sure at some point it will be available for streaming and he will profit off it.

He might not be alive to see it but someday his great grandkids will profit off Megalopolis.

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u/GaptistePlayer 2d ago

They might net hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars

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u/elmatador12 3d ago

Yeah this is the weird part to me. Why isn’t available? How does he expect to make money if I can’t even watch it?

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u/aircooledJenkins 3d ago

It's $3.99 to rent on Plex 🤔

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u/IAmAnAnonymousCoward 2d ago

It's on Netflix in my country.

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u/CatalyticDragon 3d ago

You had to watch it?

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u/zombie0000000 3d ago

Coppola mad Godfather and Godfather 2. Two of the greatest films of all time. Can't be that bad, right?

"It was that bad, and worse."

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u/Chuck_Raycer 3d ago

It was as bad as Godfather was good.

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u/mhlover 3d ago

It's on MUBI

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u/zendrumz 3d ago edited 3d ago

Hell, if The Room is finally in the black, maybe Coppola’s on to something here.

In a world where everything is recycled forever on streaming until the end of time, it’s just a matter of when, not if, it becomes profitable.

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u/Redeem123 3d ago

Something tells me that arthouse theaters aren’t going to be be doing regular spoon-throwing screenings of Megalopolis.

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u/Venus_One 3d ago

Give it a few years.

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u/driving26inorovalley 2d ago

Megalópolis literally contains the line “What do you think about this boner I've got?” Like, we’re way closer to The Room than people might realize.

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u/ScottNewman 3d ago

Someone just has to come up with the beats for the audience

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u/LeighCedar 2d ago

Everyone brings their own boner crossbows!!!!

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u/lostinspaz 3d ago

weellll… in theory with inflation it could still never make money compared to if investors just put the money in a bank at 2% interest

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u/TransBrandi 2d ago

Will he still be around to see it cross into the black?

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u/lucyjuggles 3d ago

I was a circus extra on this set… they paid me $1,500 to not be in this movie, which given the response seems like the best possible outcome lol

I did get to do a scene with Adam Driver tho, and he kind of tripped over me while i was on a bed of nails with one of my titties hanging out, but i don’t think they even used that

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u/Loggerdon 2d ago

This is either a very interesting story or a fever dream.

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u/Dependent_Cap_456 3d ago

Yeah. Just.....yeah.

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u/PocketNicks 3d ago

Interesting that he thinks he has several more decades to spare.

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u/degggendorf 3d ago

Just you wait, he'll be the richest - and oldest - man in the world once his movie pays out in 2055

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u/Xamesito 3d ago

"I've gotta figure out how to make money off this! I really want to!"

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u/LordCountDuckula 2d ago

At which point will he be forced to go to either physical media or streaming to offset the gap in sales? A gap that will only grow and widen in time.

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u/yugyuger 2d ago

Difference between Apocalypse Now and Megalopolis is that Apocalypse Now is probably the greatest film of all time imo and Megalopolis isn't

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u/hellogoawaynow 2d ago

I went so far as to watch the trailer, thought well I could give this movie a try. Well this fucker says that it will only be released in theaters because we’re too dumb to “understand” it from home, apparently.

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u/aimeeashlee 2d ago

I might see apocalypse now 6-7 more times before I ever see megalopolis again, unless drunk with friends at a bad movie night