Coppola's $136M Disaster Megalopolis Crawls Back To Streaming After He Tried To Bury It

Francis Ford Coppola finally got his white whale into theaters with Megalopolis in 2024. The reaction? Not exactly mega. Now the movie is apparently headed back to living rooms again, because this saga refuses to end like a normal release.

So what is going on with Megalopolis now?

According to the Apple TV+ listing, Megalopolis will start streaming on September 4. Odd wrinkle: as of now, it is not showing up on other VOD platforms. For a film that already did a brief VOD lap last November and then vanished a couple of months later, this is very on-brand. Coppola has been pretty vocal about wanting the movie seen in theaters or not at all, but it looks like he is making peace with the at-home reality… at least sometimes.

• Long in the making: Coppola spent decades trying to make Megalopolis and finally released it in 2024 (runtime 138 minutes; sci-fi/drama).
• The theatrical run did not set the world on fire, either critically or at the box office.
• It hit VOD in November 2024, then disappeared within a couple of months after Coppola doubled down on his theatrical-first stance.
• In 2025, he took the movie on a global roadshow of special screenings, often showing up in person.
• Early August in Italy, during that tour, Coppola went into the hospital for a prearranged heart operation.
• Now the Apple TV+ listing says streaming begins September 4, while other VOD services still aren’t listing it.
• The money part: the reported budget was about $136 million, with roughly $120 million coming directly from Coppola himself. Real talk: a profit seems wildly unlikely at this point.

The push-pull behind the scenes

This whole thing has felt like a tug-of-war between Coppola’s purist instincts and the market. He clearly wants Megalopolis seen as a big-screen, big-swing statement. But after the box office faceplant and that blink-and-you-missed-it VOD window, we’re here again: another home release. It will not hurt the movie, and honestly, it might be the only way a lot of people ever see it. If this Apple TV+ listing sticks, don’t be shocked if a full-on streaming deal follows for folks who will only press play if it’s baked into their subscriptions.

Will time be kinder to this thing?

Megalopolis is either a masterpiece or a self-indulgent disaster depending on who you ask, and that kind of split almost guarantees a second life later. The case for reassessment got a high-profile push from star Adam Driver during Coppola’s AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony, where he basically said our industry treats box office as the only scoreboard and that this movie swung for something bigger.

"This is a principled life, in a year when the arts feel minimized and the only metric to judge a film is how much money it makes. I hang on to individuals like Francis for inspiration, who live through their convictions and big moves to push the medium forward. Francis took $120 million and created a singular gesture for what he thought film could be... You more than deserve this moment. I’m honored to celebrate your generosity and your bravery."

Whether you love it or hate it, Megalopolis has a weird, singular place in movie history. Those are the titles that sometimes grow in stature once the dust settles and the safer hits blur together. For now, the journey continues: theaters, VOD, gone, roadshow, hospital detour, and back to VOD again. Next stop? Maybe a proper streaming home. And then we will see who finally gives it a shot.

Megalopolis (2024) — written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Adam Driver and Forest Whitaker.