Apple Original Films‘ critically acclaimed F1: The Movie is off to the races.
The Formula One movie — directed by Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun: Maverick fame and starring Brad Pitt — earned an impressive $25 million on Friday from 3,661 theaters for a North American opening in the $55 million-$58 million range, well ahead of expectations. Friday’s haul included a hefty $10 million in previews.
Warner Bros. is distributing and helping Apple to market the big-budget summer tentpole, which is tipped to earn another $85 million overseas for a global start of at least $140 million — supplanting World War Z’s $112 million to mark the biggest worldwide launch of Pitt’s career, not adjusted for inflation. F1 film has a huge advantage in having a lock on Imax screens for three weeks, in addition to playing in other premium large-format screens, including Dolby Cinema, for part of that time. (On Friday, 58 percent of ticket sales were for premium auditoriums). One major caveat: the movie sports a hefty production budget of at least $200 million before marketing, so it will need to keep the pedal to the metal in the weeks ahead if it is to make its money back.
F1, starring Pitt opposite Damson Idris, is a seminal moment for Apple as it tries to jump-start its theatrical ambitions after getting driven off the road with big-budget misses Killers of the Flower Moon, from Martin Scorsese, and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. Kosinski’s pic boasts near-perfect exit poll stats from audience, an A Cinemascore scores and strong reviews.
In the film, Pitt plays an injured former F1 driver who comes out of retirement to team up with a younger driver, played by Idris. Javier Bardem stars as the F1 team owner who orchestrates the scheme. Composer Hans Zimmer wrote the score for the movie after working with Kosinski on Top Gun: Maverick.
Taking on Formula One is a bold move since it has never been the marquee sport in the U.S. that it is overseas (top Apple exec Eddy Cue is a lifelong fan and sits on the board of Ferrari NV). In 2013, the wheels flew off of Ron Howard’s F1 movie Rush, which topped out at $26.9 million domestically and $97 million globally. F1‘s is also pacing well ahead of racing pic Ford v. Ferrari, a biographical action drama set against the backdrop of Europe’s famous Le Mans endurance contest. Starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, that film opened to a decent $31.5 million.
Elsewhere, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster’s horror pic M3GAN 2.0 is flaming out with a projected opening of $10.3 million, only good enough for a fourth-place finish. The pic limped to $3.4 million on Friday from 3,112 cinemas, including $1.5 million in previews. The Universal release had been forecasting a $20 million debut, which would still have been $10 million less than the first film’s record $30.4 million record launch in December 2023 on its way to earning $117.7 million domestically and $226.3 million globally. The sequel cost a modest $25 million to produce before marketing, but that’s still more than double M3GAN‘s miniscule $12 million budget.
Jason Blum‘s Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster reteamed to make the follow-up, is battling a saturated market for horror fare. Universal had hoped the movie will serve as counter-programming for younger women who have no interest in F1. While M3GAN 2.0 is skewing 53 percent female, simply not enough of the target audience showed up. (Some have groused that the character has turned too Terminator-like.) In an ironic twist, the sequel earned a B+ Cinemascore, compared to a B for the first pic.
M3GAN 2.0 is set two years after the AI doll went on a murder spree to protect her young human charge (Violet McGraw) and was subsequently shelved. Her creator (Allison Williams), the aunt of the young girl, is now a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of AI. But when another AI creature emerges that is even more dangerous, M3GAN is resurrected and mayhem ensues. Filmmaker Gerard Johnstone returned to direct the sequel from a story he wrote alongside Akela Cooper, and based on characters created by Cooper and James Wan.
Actors Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps return alongside McGraw and Williams, while franchise newcomers include Aristotle Athari, Timm Sharp and Grammy winner and 11-time Emmy nominee Jemaine Clement.
Not all is lost for Universal as the live-action How to Train Your Dragon prepares to clear the $200 million mark domestically. Now in its third weekend, the DreamWorks Animation-produced pic is parked in second place with an estimated $19 million for a domestic tally of $199.7 million through Sunday.
More to come.
June 28, 8:30 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published June 27 at 8:47 a.m.
