Warner Bros. and Apple Original Films look to have a giant hit on their hands. Joseph Kosinski brings his amazing visuals from Top Gun: Maverick to the Formula 1 racing world with F1 The Movie, and his pairing with Brad Pitt may be just the ingredient for repeat business. This will mark the sixth film that Apple Original Films released worldwide and estimates have said that the event film was poised to hit the finish line at $75 million domestically for its first weekend. However, sources for Deadline are saying it may fall moreso in the $40 million to $50+ million range. Not too shabby for a summer release.
There are currently a lot of IMAX tickets sold for the Thursday and Friday screenings of the movie. The premium format is said to be a very immersive experience for the film and our own Chris Bumbray glowed in his 9/10 review that it’s “one of the most awe-inspiring works of pure spectacle seen on the big screen in years. It’s stunning to look at, and the IMAX ratio makes the racing scenes feel like a rollercoaster ride.” He also stated, “It can’t be denied that F1 is an absolute rollercoaster ride of a movie, and – like Sinners – helps make the case for theatres still being essential to a particular kind of filmmaking. Hopefully, this is the blockbuster hit it deserves to be.”
F1 could be a big turning point for Apple Original Films, as the studio put out some seemingly audience-grabbing films, but, per Deadline, the company “struggled in its wide theatrical release stateside following its very big budget [theater-premiere films], the disastrous Argylle ($96.2M WW), the retrenched Pitt and George Clooney noir Wolfs and Killers of the Flower Moon ($158.7M domestic off a $200M production cost).”
F1 The Movie also stars Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, and Javier Bardem, and has been shot during actual Grand Prix weekends as the team competes against the titans of the sport.
The synopsis reads, “Dubbed ‘the greatest that never was,’ Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was FORMULA 1’s most promising phenom of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, he’s a nomadic racer-for-hire when he’s approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling FORMULA 1 team that is on the verge of collapse. Ruben convinces Sonny to come back to FORMULA 1 for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. He’ll drive alongside Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), the team’s hotshot rookie intent on setting his own pace. But as the engines roar, Sonny’s past catches up with him and he finds that in FORMULA 1, your teammate is your fiercest competition—and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.”
