Following a healthy opening weekend, Brad Pitt’s new movie has accelerated to $144,000,000 at the global box office.
F1 (marketed as F1: The Movie to avoid confusion with the sport itself) features the old-school movie star opposite rising Brit Damson Idris and Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon, and received unprecedented access to Formula One tracks around the world thanks to the involvement of producer and former champion of the motorsport, Sir Lewis Hamilton.
The film, which was directed by Top Gun: Maverick filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, opened on Wednesday – giving it the chance to rake in a little more than usual from a traditional Friday film release day.
In North America it managed to pull in $55.6million (£40.6m), and globally added another $88.4m (£64.5m), making for $144m (£105.2m) overall, which was ahead of projections.
It’s also the biggest opening to date theatrically of an Apple Original title – as well as the biggest global launch of Pitt’s decades-long career, not adjusted for inflation.
Previously, 2013’s World War Z held that spot with $112m (£81.8m), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That’s quite a reveal when you consider the major movies 61-year-old Pitt has starred in over the years, including Ocean’s Eleven, Troy, Mr & Mrs Smith and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, for which he won his first acting Oscar in 2020.
F1 tells the story of Sonny Hayes (Pitt), who is dubbed ‘the greatest that never was’ in the movie after a horrendous accident in the 90s nearly ends his driving career.
Thirty years on and he’s a nomadic racer-for-hire when his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) convinces him to return to the sport and help save his failing team – and take one last shot at finally being the best in the world.
But he’ll also need to drive alongside and mentor Joshua Pearce (Idris), the team’s hotshot rookie who is intent on setting his own pace.
The summer blockbuster candidate, which, with a reported budget of over $300m (£219.2m) still has a way to go before it can start turning a profit, also stars Tobias Menzies, Killing Eve’s Kim Bodnia, Shea Wigham and Ted Lasso’s Sarah Niles.
Bridgerton star Simone Ashley was also cast in the film before her role was cut down to just a cameo as that storyline was edited out of the final film.
F1 is currently sitting on a healthy 83% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics’ reviews, and an impressive 97% from verified audience reactions.
‘F1 is mostly an enjoyable experience, especially when viewed on an IMAX screen — practically mandatory with a film like this. With a running time exceeding 2.5 hours, though, your eyes and brain are both likely to feel the burn,’ The Toronto Star’s review warned, while iNews praised the film for using ‘old-fashioned, engine-revving storytelling’.
The Hollywood Reporter India labelled the movie ‘big, noisy, obvious and hugely entertaining,’ while Time Out suggested: ‘Switch off your brain and F1 will overwhelm your senses with spectacle, sonics and just enough human drama to hold it all together.’
However, other critics took issue with the film and saw more obvious shortcomings, with the BBC’s Nicholas Barber writing:’F1 is simply a competently assembled collection of underdog sports-drama clichés. It never convinces you that its protagonists are human beings.’
And for The Independent, it was called ‘a bad version of Top Gun: Maverick; and ‘the spiritually bone-dry, abrasive inverse to all of Maverick’s giddy pleasures’.
F1 is in cinemas now.
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