Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning off a customized $1million (£750,000) watch, following the field workplace failure of his 2024 movie Megalopolis.
The epic sci-fi drama was a ardour venture of the celebrated filmmaker, who put up a few of his personal cash to get the film made. It advised the story of an alternate New York Metropolis (known as “New Rome”) and follows the battle between an architect (Adam Driver) and a corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) over their visions for the way forward for the town.
The movie obtained poor evaluations and was a field workplace bomb, making $14.4million (£10.6million) in opposition to a finances estimated to be between $120-136million (£88.8million-£100.7million).
Now, reportedly in hopes of recouping a portion of the sunken prices, Coppola is promoting seven timepieces in an public sale set to happen on December 6 and seven on the New York Metropolis public sale home Phillips.
The important thing piece up for public sale within the so-called “Coppola Assortment” is the F.P. Journe FCC Prototype, which Coppola made with famed watchmaker Francis-Paul Journe. It encompasses a “black-treated titanium hand,” which was developed over the span of almost a decade’s price of conversations between Journe/his workers and Coppola, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The hand was impressed by a Sixteenth-century prosthetic crafted by French doctor Ambroise Paré, and tells the time by way of “the fingers and thumb extending or retracting in a set of sequences that point out totally different hours.”
The minutes are “decided by a white rotating ring across the perimeter.” It’s one in all solely three variations ever made by Journe, with the final watch promoting at a 2021 charity public sale for 4.5million Swiss francs (£4.2million).
One other standout piece within the assortment is the Chronomètre à Résonance, which was gifted to Coppola by his late spouse Eleanor Coppola. The timepiece is accompanied by “an commercial for the Résonance, which Francis Ford Coppola saved and was later discovered by his spouse, resulting in the reward.” That watch is ready to be auctioned for between $120,000 and $240,000.
Different items included within the assortment are a Blancpain Minute Repeater (auctioning for between $15,000 and $30,000); a Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 3919 (auctioning for between $6,000 and $12,000); and a Patek Philippe World Time ref. 5130G (auctioning for between $15,000 and $30,000).
Two ultimate watches, carry no reserve (i.e., no minimal value): a BreguetClassique ref. 5140 (auctioning between $4,000 to $8,000) and an IWC Portugieser (auctioning between $3,000 to $6,000).
In February, the Godfather filmmaker was named Worst Director on the 2025 Razzie Awards, to which he responded on Instagram: “I’m thrilled to simply accept the Razzie award in so many essential classes for @megalopolisfilm, and for the distinctive honor of being nominated because the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst image at a time when so few have the braveness to go in opposition to the prevailing tendencies of up to date moviemaking!”
In a two-star evaluation of the movie, NME‘s Lou Thomas wrote: “On paper, this will likely sound like a barely zany sci-fi tackle a noir movie however Megalopolis must be seen to be believed. The dialogue and appearing is heightened, skewed and weird, lurching from fascinating philosophical arguments to nonsense rhymes and non-jokes. The meshing of kinds doesn’t all the time make sense and is usually tough to observe. The visuals, equally, are sometimes unbelievable and typically ridiculous.”
In different information, again in September, a clip was shared of Shia LaBeouf having an argument with Coppola throughout the making of the movie.