Apple’s high octan racing movie F1: The movie Roared to the top of the American and Canadian ticket office this weekend, driven by star power and a fine -tuned marketing campaign, according to Comscore.
The film, which plays Brad Pitt as a Formula One racer returning to the field, after an accident almost ends its career, brought in $ 55.6 million in ticket sales in the two countries. It supported the $ 45 million for $ 55 million dollars domestic forecast from BoxOffice Company.
Worldwide receipts peaked $ 88 million, propelled by the sport’s strong fanbase in Europe and Latin America.
Racing films typically sputter in theaters, according to Daniel Loria, Senior Vice President of BoxOffice Company, a theater company for E trading and data services. The most successful of the genre, the widely recognized Ford against Ferrariopened for a modest $ 31 million in November 2019.
“We haven’t had so many movies about car racing that has broken through,” Loria said.
A remarkable outlier is Fast and furious Action series that expanded beyond its street racing roots to include heists, espionage and an unlikely moon image.
F1 Had several factors that weigh in favor of their advantage helped expand its appeal beyond racing enthusiasts.
The film’s director, Joseph Kosinski, brought the same high-intensity film treatment of Formula One racing, which he borrowed to the fighter jet sequences in his film from 2022, Top Gun: Maverick. Film guests who were tuned by Cinemascore gave F1 An A -assessment that signalizes their approval.
Netflix’s Formula 1: Run to survive The series helped fuel the popularity of Formula 1 Racing, especially in USA
Apple also puts marketing muscles behind its movie, an Apple Original Film’s production that the variety reported costs of over $ 200 million to make.
The technology giant proclaimed F1 Under CEO Tim Cook’s main address of this year’s worldwide developer conference and offered a film discount to iPhone users. Apple Music also amplified the film’s audio track.
Warner Bros, who marketed and distributed the film, developed a tailor -made campaign that emphasized the participation of Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton in Europe and Latin America while focusing on Pitt in the United States
“It looks very similar to a perfectly coordinated pit herd in a race,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, an information and analytical company. “They shot this thing from 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,” received critical recognition but achieved modest results at the ticket office.
“The film’s excellent debut reflects both the excitement of Formula One and the deeply emotional and entertaining story designed by the entire role crew and the creative team,” said Zack van Amburg, Apple’s leader of worldwide video, in a statement.
