Francis Ford Coppola is going to go down in history as one of the greatest directors to ever do it. From "The Godfather" to "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and everything in between, the man has gifted us with some of the most beloved films to grace the silver screen. Coppola is back for what figures to be his swan song with his long-gestating passion project "Megalopolis." The only downside is that the film's fate is all but sealed, commercially speaking, and it's not a good one. Coppola's epic is going to bomb theatrically, that much is certain. The only question that remains is just how bad is it going to be? Also, who is going to be on the wrong end of things when the losses begin to pile up?

"Megalopolis" is looking at an opening weekend in the $5 to $8 million range when it hits theaters in North America next weekend, per The Hollywood Reporter. That's pretty rough, considering the film carries a reported $120 million budget, which was financed by Coppola personally. Even the most bullish current projections via Box Office Theory have the film taking in $12 million on opening weekend. That's not what anyone wants to see in a movie of this size. It will get a little help from IMAX screens and those premium format ticket prices. Still, that's clearly not going to help move the needle enough to matter in the grand scheme of things.

That having been said, Coppola seems to have no illusions about what he's doing here. The filmmaker put forth the entire budget so that he could have full creative control. That led to a reportedly chaotic set, with crew members leaving during production. The end result proved to be a tough sell, with most Hollywood studios passing on the chance to distribute it. Lionsgate ended up signing on at the 11th hour, but they are only invested as a distributor and are being paid a fee to put it in theaters.

Lionsgate isn't even putting up the marketing budget, meaning that's more money -- millions more -- that Coppola had to come up with. So, at the end of the day, Lionsgate isn't going to lose money here. It all rests on Coppola's shoulders. He's the writer, director, producer, and financier.