Francis Ford Coppola is set to bring his much-awaited sci-fi film Megalopolis to the New York Film Festival for an advanced screening on September 23.
The special event will take place at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Before the screening, Imax will live-stream a Q&A session with Coppola to 66 giant screen theaters across the U.S. This screening comes just days before Megalopolis hits theaters on September 27 and follows earlier showings at festivals in Cannes and Toronto.
“Working with the legendary Francis Ford Coppola has been a complete privilege, and we are proud to have his groundbreaking film take part in the 62nd New York Film Festival,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in a statement, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Megalopolis has also faced some marketing challenges. Lionsgate pulled the initial trailer on August 21, just one day after its release, when it was revealed that the critics’ quotes used in the teaser were fake. A new trailer was released along with the Imax announcement, this time without any quotes from critics.
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Coppola, who has been developing Megalopolis for decades, invested part of his fortune into the $120 million project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film stars Adam Driver as a man obsessed with building a utopian city. The cast also includes Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, and Giancarlo Esposito.
The grand scale of Megalopolis is expected to be a perfect fit for Imax screens, especially with scenes like Madison Square Garden transformed into a Colosseum, complete with gladiatorial contests and chariot races.
Lionsgate, which has a long history with Coppola and his American Zeotrope company, previously distributed several of his other projects, such as Apocalypse Now Final Cut and The Cotton Club Encore.
