‘F1’ opens with $55 million, delivering Apple its biggest big-screen hit
NEW YORK AP Apple has its first box-office hit F The Movie debuted with million in North American theaters and 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 several notable successes in its six years in Hollywood including the 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 F was Apple s first foray into summer blockbuster territory It won a bidding war for the project from much of the production unit behind the box-office smash Top Gun Maverick Apple then partnered with Warner Bros to distributed the film starring Brad Pitt Damson Idris and Kerry Condon With a production budget over million F still has several laps to go to turn a profit But for now F is full speed ahead The film s outstanding debut reflects both the excitement of Formula and the deeply emotional and entertaining story crafted by the entire cast and creative club declared Zack Van Amburg who heads worldwide video for Apple with Jamie Erlicht Their dedication and innovation have fueled an unforgettable cinematic experience Car racing movies have often struggled in theaters crash-and-burn cases include Ron Howard s Rush and Michael Mann s Ferrari But F built off the Formula fandom stirred up by the popular series Formula 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 As in Top Gun Maverick the filmmakers sought an adrenaline rush by placing IMAX cameras inside the cockpit in F IMAX and large-format screens accounted for of in its ticket sales IMAX whose screens are much sought-after in the summer has carved out a three-week run for the movie Warner Bros expected F to perform well overseas where the sport is more popular than it is in the U S Jeffrey Goldstein distribution chief for Warner Bros declared Pitt was the movie s secret sauce The million global launch is the actor s biggest opening weekend We came up with multiple campaigns based on where you are in the world mentioned Goldstein We planned for an audience-winner screen the movie and get it out there People talking about this movie drove this movie Reviews have been very good for F and audience reaction an A via CinemaScore was even better That suggests F could hold up well in the coming weeks despite specific formidable coming competition in Universal Pictures Jurassic World Rebirth Paul Dergarabedian senior media analyst for input firm Comscore praised Warner Bros for making F a theatrical event The studio was also behind the year s other big original release Sinners For Apple this demonstrates to them the prestige factor of having a big theatrical release revealed Dergarabedian It elevates their brand Universal s M gan had been expected to pose a greater challenge to F Instead the robot doll sequel didn t come close to matching the original s box-office launch M gan collected million in theaters Memes and viral videos helped propel the first M gan to a million opening and a total haul of million all on a million budget Still the Blumhouse Productions horror thriller could wind up profitable The film written and directed by Gerald Johnstone cost a modest million to make A spinoff titled Soulm te is scheduled for release next year M gan ended up in fourth place The box-office leader of the last two weekends How to Train Your Dragon slid to second with million The DreamWorks Animation live-action hit from Universal Pictures has surpassed million domestically in three weeks After a debut that marked a new low for Pixar the studio s Elio gathered up million in sales in its second weekend That gives the Walt Disney Co release a disappointing two-week start of million Top movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being circulated Monday this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U S and Canadian theaters according to Comscore F The Movie million How to Train Your Dragon million Elio million M gan million Years Later million Lilo Stitch million Mission Impossible Final Reckoning million Materialists million Ballerina million Karate Kid Legends million Source
