“Megalopolis” flops, “Wild Robot” rises at the box office

NEW YORK – Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making, self-financed epic “Megalopolis” was a flop with moviegoers, while DreamWorks Animation’s acclaimed family film “Wild Robot” debuted at No. 1 at the weekend box office.

“Wild Robot,” Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s bestselling novel, exceeded expectations with $35 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Wild Robot” was on its way to success after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot raising an orphaned gosling. Audiences agreed and gave the film an “A” box office rating. “Wild Robot” will likely have a long and lucrative run for release from Universal Pictures.

Megalopolis, Coppola’s vision of a Roman epic set in modern-day New York, was never expected to reach anywhere near this level. But the film’s $4 million debut was still sobering for a film that Coppola himself financed to the tune of $120 million. After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, reviews of Coppola’s first film in 13 years were mixed. Audiences gave it a D+ CinemaScore.

From a financial perspective, “Megalopolis” was a mega-flop. But from the start, the 85-year-old Coppola maintained that it wasn’t about money for him. Coppola designed the film, which he began developing in the late 1970s, as a major personal statement about human possibilities.

“Everyone is so worried about money,” Coppola told The Associated Press in an interview before the film’s release. “I say: Give me less money and give me more friends.”

Studios passed on “Megalopolis” to Cannes. Lionsgate eventually stepped forward to distribute it for a fee. Coppola also covered the majority of the $15 million in marketing costs. The film, which stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, was also shown in approximately 200 IMAX locations, accounting for $1.8 million of ticket sales.

After three weeks at the top of the box office, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” slipped to second place with $16 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. The Warner Bros. sequel to 1988’s “Beetlejuice,” starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, has collected $250 million domestically in a month of release.

Third place went to “Transformers One,” the Transformers prequel starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry. After last weekend’s debut fell short of expectations, the Paramount release collected about $9 million in its second weekend.

Also debuting in theaters was Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” a loving dramatization of the sketch comedy institution on the night it first aired in 1975. That same weekend, the NBC series began its 50th season, and Reitman’s film opened in five New York shows and New York City Cinemas Los Angeles Theaters and collected $265,000, a strong average of $53,000 per theater. “Saturday Night” goes nationwide in two weeks.