The luxury Belize “island paradise” that Francis Ford Coppola leased for years was sold this month, weeks after the “Megalopolis” director’s lease ended.
The island, which is eight miles off the country’s coast and behind the Belize Barrier Reef, sold for $1.8 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier this week. Coppola previously leased the island for 9 years, and visited every three to six months.
The transaction was facilitated by the brokerage firm the Corcoran Group. The firm’s Peter McLean’s told Mansion Global, “Mr. Coppola was very sad to see his lease come to an end. He treasured his time on this island paradise and it was a special place for him.”
The sale comes amid ongoing reports and even admissions from the director himself that his 2024 self-funded film “Megalopolis” took a significant toll on his personal finances. Coppola invested around $120 million of his own money into the movie.
“I don’t have any money because I invested all the money, that I borrowed, to make ‘Megalopolis,’” he told Rick Rubin on the “Tetragrammaton” podcast in March.
Coppola added, “It’s basically gone. I think it’ll come back over 15 or 20 years, but I don’t have it now.”
The Chronicle also reported the director built two homes and a pier on the island throughout his nine-year tenancy. The island was previously owned by Terry Tao, and has now come into the stewardship of a Guatemalan businessman who plans to develop it into a resort.
