Francis Ford Coppola’s epic passion project <em>Megalopolis</em> cost him one of his most prized possessions. As one of the most acclaimed and ambitious directors in Hollywood history, Coppola is no stranger to helming big-budget blockbusters and tackling material (and artists) that have often been considered complicated and challenging.
Among Coppola’s most acclaimed and famous movies are The Godfather trilogy, the Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Over the course of his career, Coppola made a name for himself as one of the most inventive filmmakers in the industry, but his later career has been plagued by expensive flops, having made only five movies since 1997.
According to LA Times, Coppola has been forced to sell his watch collection due to the financial hit taken from the box office bomb Megalopolis. The director has put his seven timepieces up for auction to recoup some of the financial losses incurred from Megalopolis, including his custom F.P. Journe FFC Prototype, which is estimated to sell for more than $1 million.
Despite Megalopolis‘ ambitious scope, the movie bombed theatrically, taking just $14 million against a production budget of more than $120 million, much of which was funded by Coppola himself. While it is unlikely that his watch collection will recoup anything close to that amount, it might be a case of necessity for the Rumble Fish director.
Megalopolis was Coppola’s first movie since his horror flop Twixt in 2011.
While it is common for filmmakers to sometimes fund their own projects, this is something that is more prevalent in independent cinema and unusual for a director of Coppola’s prominence. The move could suggest he is facing financial difficulties, which aligns with the fact that his last big box office hit came back in 1992.
While Megalopolis is unlikely to rank among Coppola’s best movies, it was a labor of love for the acclaimed director. Back in July, Coppola revealed he invested his last $100 million into Megalopolis, and the fact he is selling his prized watch collection suggests that he is still struggling to recover from the financial hit taken to fund this passion project.
It is unclear what Coppola’s next career step will be after Megalopolis, and the failure of the movie may prevent the 86-year-old from ever making a big-budget project of this scale again. Whether Coppola will make another movie remains uncertain at this point, but recovering from the financial disaster of Megalopolis will take some time for the Hollywood legend.
