‘F1’ Opens With $55 Million, Delivering Apple Its Biggest Big-Screen Hit

Apple has its first box-office hit. F1 The Movie debuted with $55.6 million in North American theaters and $144 million globally over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, handing the tech company easily its biggest opening yet.

Though Apple Original Films has had some notable successes in its six years in Hollywood – including the 2021 Oscar-winner CODA – its theatrical results have been decidedly mixed. Misfires like Argylle and Fly Me to the Moon and big-budget awards plays like Ridley Scott’s Napoleon and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon have been better at driving viewers to Apple TV+ than movie theaters. But F1 was Apple’s first foray into summer blockbuster territory. It won a bidding war for the project from much of the production team behind the 2022 box-office smash Top Gun: Maverick. Apple then partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute the film starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, and Kerry Condon.

With a production budget over $200 million, F1 still has several laps to go to turn a profit. But for now, F1 is full speed ahead. “F1 The Movie puts the pedal to the metal in an impressive overperformance for this original summer movie that had one of the most comprehensive and exciting marketing blitzes in recent memory, and it paid off big for the film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore.

Car racing movies have often struggled in theaters; crash-and-burn cases include Ron Howard’s Rush (2013) and Michael Mann’s Ferrari (2023). But F1 built off of the Formula 1 fandom stirred up by the popular series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. And it leaned on Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer to deliver another adult-oriented action thrill ride.

Like they did in Top Gun: Maverick, the filmmakers sought an adrenaline rush by placing IMAX cameras inside the cockpit in F1. IMAX and large-format screens accounted for fifty-five percent of its ticket sales. IMAX, whose screens are much sought-after in the summer, has carved out a three-week run for the movie.

Reviews have been very good for F1, and audience reaction (an A via CinemaScore) was even better. That suggests F1 could hold up well in the coming weeks despite some formidable coming competition in Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World Rebirth. Universal’s M3gan 2.0 had been expected to pose a greater challenge to F1. Instead, the robot doll sequel didn’t come close to matching the 2022 original’s box-office launch. M3gan 2.0 collected $10.2 million in 3,112 theaters.

Memes and viral videos helped propel the first M3gan to a $30.4 million opening and a total haul of $180 million, all on a $12 million budget. Still, the Blumhouse Productions horror thriller could wind up profitable. The film, written and directed by Gerald Johnstone, cost a modest $25 million to make. A spinoff titled Soulm8te is scheduled for release next year.

M3gan 2.0 ended up in fourth place. The box-office leader of the last two weekends, How to Train Your Dragon, slid to second with $19.4 million. The DreamWorks Animation live-action hit from Universal Pictures has surpassed $200 million domestically in three weeks.

After a debut that marked a new low for Pixar, the studio’s Elio gathered up $10.7 million in sales in its second weekend. That gives the Walt Disney Co. release a disappointing two-week start of $42.2 million.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office. With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore: