UPDATE: In a uniquely strange turn of events, Lionsgate has now released the latest trailer for Big city from all platforms due to the controversy surrounding fabricated critic quotes it contains. In a statement to diversityA spokesman said: “Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Big city. We sincerely apologize to the critics involved, as well as to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope, for this inexcusable error in our review process. We messed up. We’re sorry.”

Remember that time when the marketing team for Tom Hardy’s Krays film legend hides a two-star review in the poster and secretly makes it look like a five-star recommendation? Well, there are no such subtleties to be found in the latest trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed sci-fi epic. Big citywho the man behind The Godfather, Apocalypse nowAnd Bram Stoker’s Dracula takes aim at critics by making blatant denigrations of his long-canonized classics the focus of the promotional campaign for his long-cherished passion project. The purpose is obviously (and as underlined by some nifty commentary from Laurence Fishburne) to counter the mixed reviews the film received at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with the boastful claim that “true genius is often misunderstood.” Watch the new trailer below to decide which side of the divide you’re on:

“A sloppy, self-indulgent film,” writes Andrew Sarris of The Godfather; “A spectacular failure,” praises John Simons Apocalypse now Review; “A beautiful mess” is Owen Gleiberman’s Dracula Criticism. It’s certainly a bold opening move to build suspense for your new film (especially given that none of the critic quotes on display actually seem to exist), but as Fishburne touts Coppola’s visionary status while showing shots of Adam Driver’s Cesar Catilina seemingly turning back time, Aubrey Plaza gobbling up fruit on a chaise longue, and the visually stunning neo-Greek architecture of the sci-fi blockbuster’s titular utopia/dystopia, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t at least Charmed to learn more about the wild things the legendary filmmaker’s latest movie has in store for us.

Here is the film’s sublime official synopsis: “Big city is a Roman epic set in an imagined modern America. The city of New Rome is forced to change, leading to conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who wishes to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opponent, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains loyal to a regressive status quo and perpetuates greed, special interests, and partisan wars. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties and she is forced to explore what she believes humanity truly deserves.” The film also stars Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, and Dustin Hoffman.

Are we witnessing the birth of the next The Godfather? Or will Francis Ford Coppola’s winery-funded, mega-budget masterpiece end up being the cinematic equivalent of a dead horse’s head on the bed for FFC? We’ll find out when Big city will be released in UK cinemas on September 27. As Plazas Wow Platinum – yes, her character Is called Wow Platinum – would say: “One, two, three – yippee, yay!”