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, fuelled 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 theatres, 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, signalling 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.