Apple's 'F1: The Movie' Roars to Top of US, Canada Box Office
Apple's high-octane racing film "F1: The Movie" roared to the top of the US and Canadian box office this weekend, fueled by star-power and a finely-tuned marketing campaign, according to Comscore.
The movie, which stars Brad Pitt as a Formula 1 racer who returns to the track after an accident nearly ends his career, brought in $55.6 million in ticket sales in the two countries. That tally edged past the $45 million to $55 million pre-weekend domestic forecast from the Boxoffice Company.
Worldwide receipts topped $88 million, propelled by the sport's strong fan base in Europe and Latin America.
Racing films typically sputter in theaters, according to Daniel Loria, senior vice president of the Boxoffice Company, a theatrical ecommerce and data services firm. The most successful of the genre, the widely acclaimed "Ford v Ferrari," opened to a modest $31 million in November 2019.
"We haven't had that many movies about car racing that have broken through," Loria said. One notable outlier is the "Fast & Furious" action series that expanded beyond its street racing roots to include heists, espionage and an improbable moon shot.
"F1" had several factors weighing in its favor, helping to broaden its appeal beyond racing enthusiasts. The film's director, Joseph Kosinski, brought the same high-intensity cinematic treatment of Formula 1 racing that he lent to the fighter jet sequences in his 2022 movie, "Top Gun: Maverick." Moviegoers who were polled by CinemaScore gave F1 an A rating, signaling their approval.
Netflix's "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" series helped fuel the popularity of Formula 1 racing, particularly in the US Apple also put marketing muscle behind its movie, an Apple Original Films production that Variety reported cost in excess of $200 million to make.
The tech giant touted "F1" during CEO Tim Cook's keynote address at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference and offered a movie discount to iPhone users. Apple Music also amplified the film's soundtrack.
Warner Bros, which marketed and distributed the movie, developed a bespoke campaign that emphasized the participation of Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton in Europe and Latin America, while focusing on Pitt in the US.
"It's very much like a perfectly coordinated pit crew in a race," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Comscore, an information and analytics company. "They shot this thing off the starting line with great success."
"F1" represents the biggest opening weekend for Apple, whose previous cinematic efforts, such as director Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," garnered critical acclaim but achieved modest results at the box office.
"The film's outstanding debut reflects both the excitement of Formula 1 and the deeply emotional and entertaining story crafted by the entire cast and creative team," Zack Van Amburg, Apple's head of worldwide video, said in a statement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Future of NASCAR's Downtown Chicago Weekend Is Unclear Going Into the Third Year of Contract
When it comes to NASCAR's upcoming return to downtown Chicago, Julie Giese has a long list of responsibilities. The track president is monitoring an ambitious construction schedule for the street course, to go along with everything else that goes into the busy weekend. What happens next is going to have to wait. The future of NASCAR in Chicago is murky going into its third edition on the first weekend in July. The three-year contract between the motorsports organization and the city that was announced in 2022 has two mutual options, and their fate is unclear. Giese said there have been good conversations between NASCAR and the city, and there is time to work on the possibilities beyond the event. 'So really right now the focus is on, 'let's execute a really great 2025,'' Giese said. 'We'll continue to have the conversations with the city. But right now, honestly, the more consistent conversations are the planning conversations.' Messages were left by The Associated Press seeking comment from Mayor Brandon Johnson's office. Johnson's predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, was in charge when the original agreement between NASCAR and the city was finalized. The Athletic reported on June 18 that NASCAR was nearing an agreement to put a street race in the San Diego area next year. An announcement could come as soon as July. Asked if she had spoken with NASCAR or anyone in the San Diego area about a Southern California street race, Giese said her focus is on Chicago. She also said she feels there is room for multiple street courses on NASCAR's calendar. 'We have multiple road course races on the schedule,' she said. 'So I mean … I've not ever heard where it has to be one or the other. I mean there is room. This event we went into it that first year knowing full well it was a proof of concept. And we showed that it is possible.' The Xfinity and Cup Series races in Chicago–held on a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course against the backdrop of Lake Michigan and Grant Park–are the main events in a festival-like weekend that also includes music and entertainment options. It is geared as much to a new audience in one of NASCAR's most important regions as it is to the most ardent racing fans. NASCAR used to race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, a 45-mile drive from downtown, but it pulled out after the 2019 season. 'This is a top-three market for us worldwide, frankly, for NASCAR fans,' NASCAR executive Ben Kennedy said when the Chicago event was announced in 2022. There was some concern for drivers and their teams about the course ahead of the first weekend, and it wasn't exactly warmly received by local businesses and residents because of the street closures in a heavily trafficked area for tourists in the summer. But organizers have shrunk the construction schedule from 43 days in 2023 to 25 this year. Based on input from fans, they also have made adjustments to the race viewing areas and moved the concert stage to the start-finish line. Admission is free for kids 12 and under on Saturday and Sunday this year. The weekend also has won over at least some people inside of NASCAR. 'This was very different. But now it's fun to see and hear from people in the industry that are coming in early, and they're going to just enjoy the city for a few days,' Giese said. 'The one piece that I hear from our drivers especially is they love just staying right at a hotel right across the street. They're walking across Michigan Avenue and they're at the course. Quite often with an umbrella.' Wet weather had a major effect on each of the first two editions. Heavy rain nearly scuttled the inaugural weekend, and last year's Cup Series race was shortened because of a rain delay and fading sunlight. When the drivers were on the course, the racing was compelling. Shane van Gisbergen outdueled Justin Haley and Chase Elliott on his way to a historic Cup victory in 2023, and Alex Bowman stopped an 80-race drought with his victory last year. 'I think they've been up against it as far as conditions are concerned,' Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin said. 'The track has been good, it's been racy and has passing zones, and the scenery is fantastic as far as the backdrop we are racing in. There's a lot of positives for the Chicago Street Race. It will probably move around in the future, but it's in the mold in which I would like to see any street race they continue to implement in the future.'
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Movie Review: 'Jurassic World Rebirth' Puts a Wobbly Franchise Back on Track With Superb Installment
If you've lately been feeling that the Jurassic Park franchise has jumped an even more ancient creature – the shark – hold off any thoughts of extinction. Judging from the latest entry, there's still life in this old dino series. Jurassic World Rebirth captures the awe and majesty of the overgrown lizards that's been lacking for so many of the movies, which became just an endless cat-and-mouse in the dark between scared humans against T. rexes or raptors. Jurassic World Rebirth lets in the daylight. Credit goes to screenwriter David Koepp, who penned the original Jurassic Park, and director Gareth Edwards, who knows a thing or two about giant reptiles as director of 2014's Godzilla. Together with director of photographer John Mathieson, they've returned the franchise to its winning roots. Jurassic World Rebirth has nods to the past even as it cuts a new future with new characters. It's a sort of heist movie with monsters that's set on the original decaying island research facility for the original abandoned Jurassic Park. Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali – both very unshowy and suggesting a sort of sibling chemistry – play security and extraction specialists – OK, mercenaries – hired to get what everyone wants from dinosaurs in these movies: DNA. In return, there's $10 million. The movie is set five years after Jurassic World Dominion and some three decades after dinosaurs were reanimated. They've lost their public fascination – a subtle nod perhaps to the films in the franchise – and have struggled with the climate, gathering at the equator. The Big Pharma company ParkerGenix has come up with a blockbuster idea: Take DNA from three colossal Cretaceous-period creatures – the flying Quetzalcoatlus, the aquatic Mosasaurus and the land-based Titanosaurus – to cure cardiac disease. Wait, how does that work? Don't ask us, something about hemoglobin. The trick is this: The dinos have to be alive when the DNA is extracted. Why? Because then there'd be no movie, silly. It would be a 10-minute sequence of a guy in a white coat and a syringe. This way we celebrate three kinds of dinosaurs in three separate chapters. It may seem a little far-fetched, but may we remind you about the last movie, which involved a biogenetic granddaughter, a global pharma conspiracy, the cast members from both trilogies, a Giganotosaurus, giant locusts on fire and had the ludicrous decision to have Chris Pratt make a promise to bring home a baby dino – to its mother. The three-part quest at the heart of Jurassic World Rebirth is interrupted by a family – a dad, his two daughters and a sketchy boyfriend – in a 45-foot sailboat that is capsized and need rescuing. They bring a dose of not-always-working humor and humanity to the extraction team, which also includes a too-easily-telegraphing baddie played by Rupert Friend ('I'm too smart to die') and a museum-based paleontologist played by Jonathan Bailey. The filmmakers include clever nods to other blockbusters – Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jaws and E.T. – and thrillingly create a dinos-hunting-in-a-convenience-store sequence like a tribute to the original film's dinos-hunting-in-a-kitchen sequence. The shots overall are beautifully composed, from silhouettes on a boat in twilight to almost feeling the burn of the ropes as actors rappel down a 500-foot cliff face. The creatures here are made glorious – from a dozing T. rex along a river bed to the ones twisting in the sea, pure muscle and heft. A highlight is a pair of long-tailed Tyrannosauruses entwining their necks as John Williams' familiar score plays, two lovers with thick, knotted skin, utterly oblivious to the pesky humans who want some DNA. For some reason, candy is a touchstone throughout the movie, from the opening sequence in which a stray Snickers wrapper causes incalculable harm to licorice fed to a baby dino and one character's fondness for crunching Altoids. Edwards' pacing is perfect, allowing dread to build with just the rustling of trees and letting characters deepen between breathless, excellently filmed action sequences. The gorgeous landscape – Thailand's waterfalls, grassy plains, shoreline caves and mangrove swamps – should be used for a tourist campaign, well, as long as they remove the rapacious dinos. As if all this wasn't enough, there's a bonus bit at the end. The research facility that was abandoned years ago was cross-breeding dino species and making genetically altered freaks that still roam around. Some look like a turkey-bat-raptor hybrid – gross and scary – and one is a 20,000-pound T. rex with a misshapen head and a horrible roar. It's like getting a free monster movie. In many ways, the folks behind Jurassic World Rebirth are trying to do the same thing as their mercenaries: Going back to the source code to recapture the magic of Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster original. They've thrillingly succeeded. Jurassic World Rebirth, a Universal Pictures release that opens in theaters Wednesday, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference. Running time: 133 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
US to revoke visas for Bob Vylan band over anti-Israel chant
The United States said Monday it was revoking visas for the British punk-rap group Bob Vylan which led a chant at the Glastonbury festival calling for death to the Israeli military. The @StateDept has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country. — Christopher Landau (@DeputySecState) June 30, 2025 'Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,' Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau posted on X. The BBC has come under fire for allowing the performance during the Glastonbury Festival to be shown live on Saturday as a Bob Vylan member led the crowd in chanting 'death, death to the IDF,' a reference to the Israel Defense Forces, following chants of 'free, free Palestine.' The BBC, which broadcasts the festival in southwest England, issued a warning on screen while the set was being streamed online, but said on Monday it should have gone further. With agencies
