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, has already banked a hefty $10 million in previews at the domestic box office before officially opening everywhere today, June 27. That includes $7 million in Thursday shows and $3 million from a host of sneak screenings.
Warner Bros. is distributing and helping Apple to market the big-budget summer tentpole, which is tipped to open to $40 million to $50 million in North America and another $75 million overseas for a global start of at least $115 million. The film has a huge advantage in having a lock on Imax screens for three weeks, in addition to playing other premium large-format screens, including Dolby Cinema, for part of that time. One major caveat: the movie sports a hefty production budget of at least $200 million before marketing.
F1, starring Brad 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 box office misses Killers of the Flower Moon, from Martin Scorsese, and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.
In Kosinski’s 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 preview gross is 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 earned $2.1 in previews on its way to a decent three-day opening of $3 milliond in North America.
F1 will run laps around Blumhouse and Atomic Monster’s M3GAN 2.0, which earned $1.5 million in Thursday previews. The Universal release is forecasting a $20 million domestic opening, $10 million less than the first film’s $30.4 million record debut in December 2023, including $2.75 million in previews, on its way to earning $117.7 million in North America and $226.3 million globally against a minuscule $12 million production budget, not adjusted for inflation.
Jason Blum‘s Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster reteamed to make the follow-up, which launches amid a saturated market for horror fare. Nevertheless, pundits say the sequel is all but guaranteed to be a profitable piece of business, considering the budget was a scant $15 million. Universal believes the movie will serve as counter-programming for younger woman who have no interested in F1.
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.