Francis Ford Coppola has explained why Megalopolis is not available on DVD. The Godfather director’s 2024 sci-fi film was notoriously fraught with production issues, and then struggled to secure a distributor after it had been filmed. Once the movie did eventually come out, Megalopolis‘ reviews were not strong, with a 45% Tomatometer score.

Megalopolis was also an incredible box office flop. The movie made just $14.3 million worldwide, losing a monumental amount with its estimated $120 million budget, making it one of the biggest flops of the year.

Speaking with ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Coppola has now explained why Megalopolis was never released on DVD. Implying that he was behind the decision, the director said that he “wanted to keep the hope of a theater experience going.” This gave Coppola the idea to, instead of throwing in the towel by making the movie available at home, tour with Megalopolis.

The ticket sales for this tour, the director noted, contribute to “the fund of keeping it alive.” Check out the full quote from Coppola below:

I didn’t make the movie available anywhere where people can own it or have a DVD or all that because I wanted to keep the hope of a theater experience going. So because of that, there are a lot of people who said to me, well, how come you can’t get it on all the normal ways? I said, well, because I’m going to go and bring it in a public way at first to prime the pump, where I’ll talk about the movie at the end, or rather illustrate some of where the movie could take you if you wanted to discuss it that way. And that gave birth to this idea of a tour. Also, it was in a theater shown in the format it was intended. And the tickets go into the fund of keeping it alive.

What This Release Plan Means For Megalopolis

Will The Movie Ever Come Out On DVD?

The tour referenced is a multi-city roadshow wherein Coppola travels around showcasing Megalopolis. Last Sunday, for example, he headed to Red Bank, NJ, and presented the movie with a discussion afterward called “How to Change Our Future.” After Red Bank, he will travel to Denver and San Francisco.

As is clear in Coppola’s quote, this tour is a way of “keeping [Megalopolis] alive” after its box office failure. The roadshow cannot bring in anywhere near enough money to recoup the mᴀssive production costs for the film, but it can at least extend the тιтle’s legacy.

With this most recent statement, it is unclear when Megalopolis will ever be available to watch at home. Coppola is adamant that he wants to “bring it in a public way first,” though the extent of those theatrical showings is unclear. Already, it has been nearly a year since the movie initially came out, and the wait for a DVD continues.

Our Take On Coppola’s Megalopolis Stance

The Director Insists That Megalopolis Is A Masterpiece

Coppola’s refusal to release Megalopolis on DVD is unsurprising given his track record with the film. Even before the movie was widely released, Coppola ᴀsserted that it was a misunderstood masterpiece. He has maintained this perspective even as the movie was nominated for the undesirable Razzie awards.

And it seems like that is the perspective he is continuing to take as he ᴀsserts Megalopolis as a film worthy of a theatrical setting. At the moment, his tour seems to be going relatively well, and it will be interesting to see whether the public’s opinion on the movie will change anytime soon.

Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline