5 Reasons Why Brad Pitt's F1 Movie Dominated The Box Office

After years of investing lots (and lots, and lots) of money into getting into the movie business in a meaningful way, Apple may finally have a meaningful theatrical hit on their hands. "F1," aka "F1: The Movie," arrived in theaters over the weekend and easily topped the charts, helping to round out a somewhat uneven June at the box office.

The Apple Original Films production, which is being released by Warner Bros., stars Brad Pitt ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood") and opened to an estimated $55.6 million domestically. It certainly didn't hurt matters that competition was lighter than expected, as Universal's "M3GAN 2.0" fell way short of pre-release projections, opening to just $10.2 million. That cleared the road for director Joseph Kosinski's follow-up to "Top Gun: Maverick" to win the day.

Internationally, "F1" added a very solid $88.4 million, giving it a $144 million global start. The production cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 million after very expensive reshoots that delayed the release, so it still has a long way to go to actually turn a profit. But reshoots aren't always a bad thing, and based on these early results, it seems to have been worth the money for Apple.

So, how did Apple finally craft a true crowd-pleasing blockbuster? What went right for this one? We're going to look at the biggest reasons why "F1" was a success out of the gate at the box office. Let's get into it.

When it comes to non-franchise summer blockbusters, getting audiences to talk about how much they love a movie is of paramount importance. It's what helps turn a good performance into a great performance, commercially speaking. In this case, "F1" delivered the goods; audiences are absolutely buying what Kosinski is selling.

The movie currently holds a very solid 83% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. More importantly, the audience score sits at a near-perfect 97%. It also boasts an A CinemaScore as well, which strongly suggests that word of mouth will be very good in the weeks to come. Given the movie's massive budget, Apple and Warner Bros. need this thing to have legs and not just fall off a cliff next when "Jurassic World Rebirth" arrives over Fourth of July weekend. That movie is expected to easily top the charts in the coming days. 

Fortunately, "F1" has the benefit of holding onto IMAX screens for a few weeks, whereas Universal isn't getting the opportunity to release "Rebirth" in the much-desired premium format. So Apple and WB will continue to rake in those more pricey tickets even as dinosaurs take over. "Superman" will eat into that in mid-July, but for now, things are looking good.

Brad Pitt has been a big star for three decades. From taking home an Oscar for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" to his blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in "Deadpool 2," he's going to add a certain amount of automatic attention to any movie. But the cast that surrounds him in "F1" is arguably just as important, from fellow Oscar-winner Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men") to Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon ("The Banshees of Inisherin"), not to mention a boatload of meaningful cameos from the racing sport in question.

That's all well and good, but Hollywood has trouble making new, young stars these days, which is part of the reason why guys like Pitt lead big productions into their 60s. Yet, Kosinski paired Pitt with the up-and-coming Damson Idris ("Snowfall"), who is now one of the most promising, rising stars in the business. That combination of familiar, welcome faces with new ones helped create that pitch-perfect ensemble that often anchors a major hit in the modern era. 

It's rarely a one star game anymore. Rather, it's the sum total of a core cast's efforts that can help sell a meaningful number of tickets. This was a razor-sharp execution of the assignment from the casting department. 

Apple has been spending big on movies and TV shows in recent years to help bolster Apple TV+. The company has a multi-trillion-dollar market cap, so even a $250 million blockbuster isn't as consequential as it would be for a more traditional studio like Universal or Sony. Still, Apple wants theatrical success, and even if it isn't about turning a profit at the box office, the company was happy to spend big to make that happen.

"F1" represents a downright ridiculous investment, with some reports suggesting the actual budget was closer to $300 million, not including marketing. All the same, this is already poised to be the company's biggest theatrical success by a mile. Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" made $158 million against a hulking $200 million budget. Ridley Scott's "Napoleon" did similar numbers, pulling in $221 million on a similar budget. Those are the "big" ones so far. 

This is to say nothing of outright misfires like "Argylle." It's also worth mentioning that Apple was the first streamer to win a Best Picture Oscar with "CODA." The brass at Apple isn't delusional. They know what it takes for a $250 million movie to profit. But they don't actually need it to profit — they just need it to do well enough to make the investment not seem foolish. But those deep pockets did have a meaningful impact this time around, at least in the early going.

This one may seem simple, but it's no less true in terms of being a meaningful factor when it comes to the movie's success: Formula 1 racing is radically popular. So much so that Nielsen Sports named it as the largest sport globally in terms of sheer audience size as of 2024, with 750 million fans worldwide. That is a big audience to market to, and as we've seen time and time again, popular things adapted well into movies tend to make lots of money. Just look at "A Minecraft Movie" this year, or even a book like "It Ends With Us."

Granted, this relies on the filmmakers doing right by fans of the sport, or they run the risk of people turning their noses up at it. Fortunately, even though "F1" isn't entirely accurate to real life, Kosinski and Apple did their homework and tried to make this an authentic experience, and one that's also welcoming to the casual fan who may not be familiar with the ins and outs of the sport. That instantly opened it up to a big audience that Apple was effectively able to reach on opening weekend.

Director Joseph Kosinski cannot be overlooked here. In the realm of blockbuster filmmaking, directors can sometimes feel like plug-and-play elements, but Kosinski has proved that he knows how to tap into something that resonates with global audiences. Specifically, he was the man behind the camera for "Top Gun: Maverick," which made just shy of $1.5 billion in 2022, becoming literally one of the biggest movies of all time.

That film's trajectory remains one of the most surprising box office runs ever, particularly since the theatrical recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic was still well underway at that point. A "Top Gun" sequel well over 30 years after the original was never a guaranteed hit. Coupled with the star power of Tom Cruise, Kosinski pulled together something special. All of this to say, getting him to helm this Formula 1 racing epic, attempting to do the same thing for racing that he did for flying, was absolutely the right call.

One of the things that benefited "Maverick" is that it very much demanded to be seen on the big screen, with real moviegoers making that clear through word of mouth. It seems very much like the buzz for "F1" will give it a similar "you need to see it now and don't wait to stream it" seal of approval. That might not have been the case with a different filmmaker behind the scenes.

"F1" is in theaters now.