These are extinct lights, we go to the box office as “F1», A big budget racing drama featuring Brad Pitt, returns impressively to $ 55.6 million during his national opening weekend.
With excellent reviews and a promising “A” note on the Cinemascore exit polls, “F1” landed in the middle expectations From $ 50 to 60 million. At the International Box-Office, the film collected a solid $ 88.4 million on 78 markets. These first sales of tickets are significant since “F1” is a tent trait that is not part of an existing cinema franchise – a rarity in the landscape of cinema with today IP. Directed by Joseph Kosinski of “Top Gun: Maverick”, “F1” follows Pitt as a retirement pilot of Formula 1 which is convinced to return to popular motorsport to train a smooth recruit (Damson Idris) and save a failing team.
“We are delighted with the global response to” F1 “and grateful to the public who kissed the film with such enthusiasm,” said Apple’s world video chief Jamie Erlicht. “This success testifies to Joe’s vision, Jerry (Bruckheimer), Brad and (F1 Champion) Lewis (Hamilton), as well as the efforts of all distribution and the team. With Formula 1, they created an inspiring cinematographic journey that captures the energy and the spirit of sport.”
“F1” also marks the first commercial hit for Apple, the technology giant that financed the film by nearly $ 250 million. (Apple put the production budget at 200 million dollars, but others said that the number was closer to $ 300 million). This does not include many millions on promotional efforts, including a Spanning press tour. And as Apple does not have a distribution arm, the company pays costs in Warner Bros. To put the film in theaters; The studio also receives a percentage of theatrical income which increases with certain benchmarks at the box office.)
Unlike a traditional studio, Apple, with its market capitalization of $ 3 billions, depends less on box office income and home entertainment sales to justify its investment in mega-budget films. The company considers its movies and television programs as a marketing vehicle for its technology and Apple TV +. With this vast range, Apple has unique means of promoting its films, such as placing the “F1” trailer on the home screen of its streaming service and allowing push iPhone notifications for “F1” which offer a $ 10 discount when moviegoers buy two or more tickets on Fandango.
In a recent Variety blanket About the ambitions of Apple’s film and television, CEO Tim Cook says that he does not consider the side of content as a way to move sales of equipment that feeds his main activity. “I don’t have it in my mind that I will sell more iPhones because of this,” he said about “F1”. We are in (Entertainment) to tell beautiful stories, and we want it to also be a big business. »»
Since Apple’s incursion in the theater, however, the company has supported the sub-performer epics (“Killers of the Flower Moon” by Martin Scorsese and “Napoleon” by Ridley Scott) as well as Flops critically burnt down (“Fly Me to the Moon” and “Argylle”) and a single best image film Oscar (“Coda”. A profitability and winding, to be sure, but it is the closest attempt of Apple in the successful territory of all the Audis. The highest Apple.
“Many things about this film seem easy, as a safe success, but that is not the case,” explains David A. Gross, who heads the Consulting Consulting as a crossed films and described the start of “F1” as “remarkable”. “Race car movies and sports dramas have a long and mixed assessment. This time everything works.”
The manufacturers of “F1”, including the producer of “Top Gun” Jerry Bruckheimer and the seven time Champion of Formula 1 Lewis Hamilton, presented the film as the “most authentic” racing film of all time. In order to reproduce the need for speed on the screen, the cinema team brought IMAX immersive cameras when they went around the real world circuit of Formula 1 – Yes, Pitt really leads to speeds that top at 180 MPH – from Silverstone to Las Vegas in Abu Dhabi. These efforts resulted in ticket sales as a public proved to be in force to watch “F1” in IMAX and other premium formats, which represented 55% of interior ticket sales. IMAX in particular aligned $ 27.7 million worldwide, representing 19% of global income.
“With the most realistic race sequences ever engaged in the cinema,” F1: the film “simply demands to be experienced in IMAX, and the public from around the world has clearly received this message,” said IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond. “Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer innovated and pushed our technology to new borders to deliver a tailor-made film for IMAX, and we expect moviegoers to continue to search for our screens for` `F1 ” during the holiday weekend in the United States.”
With “F1” in pole position, the competitors of the box office were left in the dust. The other major outing of this weekend, the Campy Horror suite by Universal and Blumhouse “M3GAN 2.0», Fizzera in fourth place with $ 10.2 million. The film, which sees M3GAN (abbreviation for the model 3 android generative) rebuilt with advanced upgrades to stop a humanoid military robot which attempts an AI takeover, collected an additional $ 7 million of 80 international markets for a tally of $ 17 million. (Above the note “B” which was granted to the film 2023 “M3gan”).
With a price of 25 million dollars, “M3GAN 2.0” will not require a ton of currency to make a theatrical benefit. But a low participation rate for the future suggests that the murderous AI doll with killer dance films was more a unique viral phenomenon rather than the face of a sustainable film franchise. This could be a problem because a spin-off, entitled “Soulm8te”, is scheduled for 2026.
“The idea of a humanoid robot doll of child size powered by AI aroused a lot of interest the first time, but this interest has collapsed,” explains Gross. “Nothing seems bad with the film (but) the story is struggling to show something new, and fans move on.”
Elsewhere, the Holdver titles filled the top of the box office list. “How to train your Dragon” from Universal to slip in second place after two weekends in first place. The live remake added $ 19.4 million during its third weekend outing, bringing its North American count to $ 200.5 million. Globally, EPIC action has raised $ 454.5 million to date.
In third place, the intergalactic adventure of Disney “Elio” continues to deal with fierce -contrary winds of other PG offerings “how to train your dragon” and another Disney, “Lilo & Stitch” features. In his second outing, “Elio” brought in $ 10.7 million on 3,750 sites. It is a drop of 49% compared to its beginnings of $ 20 million, which ranked like the worst start of modern history for Pixar. Despite solid criticism and positive audience scores, “Elio” has reported only $ 73 million worldwide. Ownership of a budget of $ 150 million promises to be a large monetary loser for Disney.
At Disney, however, the lasting success of “Lilo & Stitch” will help compensate for any theatrical loss of “Elio”. After six weekends on the big screen, the live action “Lilo & Stitch” reported $ 946 million and will finally be the first blockbuster of the year of a billion dollars. A live suite is already in preparation.
The Sony Zombie thriller “28 years later” is completed by the Sony Zombie thriller with its second weekend with $ 9.7 million on 3,444 places-a painful 68% drop in its opening weekend. Ticket sales amount to $ 50 million in the country and $ 103 million worldwide against a budget of $ 60 million.