Washington (USA), September 5 (ANI): Francis Ford Coppola is scheduled to showcase his much-awaited sci-fi film Megalopolis at the New York Film Festival, where a pre-premiere screening will be held on September 23.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the special event will take place at the AMC Lincoln Square theater in New York.

Ahead of the screening, Imax will broadcast a live Q&A with Coppola to 66 big-screen theaters across the U.S. The screening comes just days before Megalopolis’ Sept. 27 premiere and follows earlier screenings at the Cannes and Toronto film festivals.

“It was an honor to work with the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, and we are proud that his groundbreaking film will be included in the 62nd New York Film Festival,” said Adam Fogelson, chairman, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

Megalopolis has also faced some marketing challenges. Lionsgate withdrew the first trailer on August 21, just a day after its release, when it was revealed that the critic quotes used in the teaser were false. A new trailer was released alongside the Imax announcement, this time without any critic quotes.

Coppola, who has been developing Megalopolis for decades, has invested part of his fortune in the $120 million project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film stars Adam Driver as a man obsessed with building a utopian city. The cast also includes Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and Giancarlo Esposito.

The massive scale of Megalopolis is expected to be perfect for Imax screens, especially with scenes like Madison Square Garden transformed into the Colosseum, complete with gladiator fights and chariot races.

Lionsgate, which has a long history of working with Coppola and his American Zeotrope label, has previously distributed several of his other projects, including Apocalypse Now Final Cut and The Cotton Club Encore. (ANI)