Apple’s big box office revenue continues to break company records. F1: The Movie broke another milestone this weekend, earning over $600 million at the box office worldwide.
The numbers beat most optimistic expectations ahead of the release, costing Apple about $250 million. The film was purchased or rented on Friday on demand, but no Apple TV+ streaming date has been announced yet.
In the film, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) comes out of retirement and helps mentor a promising driver (Damson Idris) in the APX GP of the backmarker F1 team. The film was filmed during actual F1 races throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and presents a series of incredible racing sequences.
Formula 1 is currently Brad Pitt’s best-selling film to date, despite not taking into account inflation. Apple calls the film the most successful original feature of the year, but it can be debated whether a film set in the F1 world is considered an original creation. It also retains a strong 97% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a certified fresh critical reception.
Apple clearly hopes that the powerful reception will be translated into a big splash of Apple TV+ when the film is playing on the service in the coming months.
However, the company has not yet released another wide range of theatrical original films since its cuts from films. For now, it produces a handful of original films a year, all of which are doomed straight to streaming releases. Film operators are optimistic that F1 success will reset Apple’s approach to theater as the industry continues to struggle.
