Apple’s ‘F1’ Hits Top Speed, Blazing past the $500M Mark
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It’s been a month since Apple’s F1: The Movie opened in theaters around the globe to become Apple’s top-grossing film of all time, pulling in $146 million in its opening weekend.
However, the Brad Pitt-led F1 has turned out to be more than a flash in the pan. By the end of the second opening weekend, when the film had been in theatres for about 10 days, it had brought in $293 million globally, with $109 million of that coming from the over 4,000 theaters where it’s playing in the US and Canada, plus $72.9 million from the next five highest-grossing countries, China, the UK, Mexico, France, and Australia.
While it’s probably fair to say that Apple has set a pretty low bar for a film to become its top-grossing picture — its previous attempts have met with a lukewarm reception, at best — F1 is quickly racing to the top of the lists by even traditional Hollywood standards. By the end of its fourth box office weekend, it had brought in $434 million, ranking it among star Brad Pitt’s highest-earning films.
Now, a week later, F1 has still shown no signs of slowing down. According to data reported by CNBC, the film passed the $500 million mark this weekend, reaching $509 million and more than doubling Apple’s previous height of $221 million, which it achieved during the theatrical release of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.
In fact, F1 has now surpassed the box office take from Apple’s last three big-budget films combined. In addition to Napoleon’s $221 million, Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon brought in $158 million, and Argylle underwhelmed at a mere $96 million. At the rate it’s going, it won’t be long before F1 laps even Apple’s other top four films, since the next one on the list, Fly me to the Moon, only brought in $42 million.
In other words, F1 might not just be the single biggest picture Apple has ever made. It’s poised to eclipse Apple’s entire catalog of original films, soon earning more money than the rest of them put together.
Still, while F1 is doing remarkably well by Apple standards, the other big blockbuster hit this weekend, the new Superman remake, reached the $500 million mark in just two weeks. However, F1 is still ahead, and it remains to be seen whether the two movies will maintain the same momentum, as F1 has consistently continued to fill seats.
It also helps that F1 is an IMAX spectacle that’s had a three-week release in IMAX theaters globally. It’s also being re-released in IMAX theaters on August 8, which should spur another round of ticket sales from those who missed the first run or want to experience it again on the big screen.
While Apple is reportedly scaling back on big theatrical releases, F1 may be the exception that proves the wisdom in focusing even more on quality over quantity. Presumably, nixing a few other releases has allowed it to focus its attention (and money) on one big summer blockbuster, and it hasn’t hedged its bets; it pulled out all the stops for F1, including building custom cameras and promoting it through haptic trailers and even controversial notifications in Apple Wallet.
As with other Apple Originals, F1 will eventually make its way to Apple TV+, but unlike the company’s previous films, F1 demands to be seen on the big screen. In addition to being shot with immersive IMAX cameras at real Formula 1 events, Apple engineered custom cameras to make sure the cockpit action met the necessary standards for IMAX. The same duo that brought us Top Gun: Maverick, Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski, were also the creative force behind the film, along with legendary Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton.
Meanwhile, as F1: The Movie races to even greater heights, Apple may also be leveraging that success in an even bigger race: securing US streaming rights for the Formula 1 circuit. By all reports, Apple’s bid is in the lead, meaning we could soon see F1 racing joining MLS as Apple’s next sports streaming service.
