Francis Ford Coppolas Megalopolis flops at the box office as The Wild Robot takes top spot

NEW YORK — Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making, self-financed epic “Megalopolis” flopped with moviegoers, while the acclaimed DreamWorks Animation family film “The Wild Robot” soared to No.1 at the weekend box office.“The Wild Robot,” Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s bestseller, outperformed expectations to launch with $35 million in ticket sales in U.S.

and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.“Wild Robot” was poised to do well after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot who raises an orphan gosling.Audiences agreed, giving the film an A CinemaScore.“Wild Robot” is likely set up a long and lucrative run for the Universal Pictures release.Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, predicts “The Wild Robot” “may take a page from the ‘Elemental’ playbook by opening to respectable box office and then looking toward long-term playability.”Pixar’s “Elemental,” which like “The Wild Robot” wasn’t a sequel, debuted with a modest $30 million but went on to gross nearly $500 million worldwide.Family movies, led by the year’s biggest hit in “Inside Out 2,” have particularly powered the box office this year.

David A.Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment, said the genre should reach $6 billion worldwide in 2024 — which, he noted, “is back to pre-pandemic levels.”“Megalopolis,” Coppola’s vision of a Roman epic set in modern-day New York, was never expected to perform close to that level.

But the film’s $4 million debut was still sobering for a movie that Coppola bankrolled himself for $120 million.Following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, critics have been mixed on Coppola’s first film in 13 years.Audiences gave in a D+ CinemaScore.By any financial measure, “Megalopolis” was a mega-flop.

But from the start, the 85-year-old Coppola maintained money wasn’t his concern.Coppola fas...