Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited passion project Megalopolis stumbled at the box office, while DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot soared to the No. 1 spot this weekend. Directed by Chris Sanders and adapted from Peter Brown’s popular novel, The Wild Robot earned $35 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, outperforming expectations. The family film, about a shipwrecked robot raising an orphaned gosling, has been praised by critics and earned an A CinemaScore from audiences, setting it up for a potentially long and profitable run.
Analysts are comparing The Wild Robot to Pixar’s Elemental, which had a modest debut but went on to gross nearly $500 million worldwide. Family films have been a major box office driver in 2024, with David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment predicting the genre could bring in $6 billion worldwide this year, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
In contrast, Coppola’s Megalopolis, a modern-day Roman epic set in New York, struggled in its opening weekend, grossing only $4 million despite its $120 million budget, which Coppola financed himself. Critics have been mixed on the film, and it received a disappointing D+ CinemaScore from audiences. However, the 85-year-old director remains focused on the film’s personal significance rather than its financial performance, having developed the project since the 1970s. Despite its box office failure, Megalopolis stands as Coppola’s grand artistic statement.
