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Apple's $350 Million Gamble on 'F1' Is Starting to Pay Off

Apple's latest original film, "F1: The Movie," has become the company's highest-grossing theatrical release to date, earning over $293 million globally within ten days of release, Variety reports.

Apple TV F1
According to Variety, the film earned $146 million globally during its opening weekend and has since surpassed $293 million worldwide, overtaking Ridley Scott's "Napoleon" ($221 million) and Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" ($158 million) as Apple's highest box office performer to date. Two of Apple's movies, "Fly Me to the Moon" ($42 million) and "Argylle" ($96 million), severely underperformed.

IMAX screenings have been a significant contributor to revenue, accounting for $60 million globally, or roughly 20% of total ticket sales. Outside of the United States and Canada, where F1 has grossed $109.5 million to date, the top-performing international markets include China ($22 million), the United Kingdom ($17.3 million), Mexico ($12.3 million), France ($11.5 million), and Australia ($9.8 million).

The production cost for F1 is estimated to have exceeded $250 million, with marketing expenses reportedly adding another $100 million. While the film's box office performance has exceeded that of Apple's previous theatrical titles, the total gross remains below the estimated break-even threshold for a film with such a high combined budget. Box office returns are also typically split between studios and exhibitors, with studios often receiving around 50% of domestic ticket revenue and a smaller share internationally. As a result, it is unlikely that F1 has yet recouped its full investment from theatrical ticket sales alone.

Following its run in theaters, F1 is expected to become available on Apple TV+ later in 2025.

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Top Rated Comments

Jumpthesnark Avatar
13 months ago
Meanwhile, in a MR thread from less than two weeks ago ('https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-considers-theatrical-arm-amid-250m-bet-on-f1-the-movie.2459731/post-33980965'), it's page after page of comments that are mostly "it will flop because I don't care about it" or "why is Apple spending money on this when they need to be updating the HomePod?"

It is, once again, proof that a huge number of vocal MR commenters know less about what people want than Apple seems to. 🎬
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
13 months ago
The figures above regarding the films budget exclude significant tax credits the production received, and also the rumored $40 million in paid product placement the production was rumored to have achieved (Expensify alone paid an "8 figure" sum for its product placement in the movie)

but putting that aside, the economics for a streamer are not just how much they make from box office receipts. There are of course the PVOD sales, but much more importantly for a streamer is how many extra subscribers Apple can achieve globally from F1 being exclusively available on the Apple TV+ service (which is also exactly how Disney, Amazon & Netflix think about their cinema releases and there respective services).

For example, for every extra million subscribers are attracted to AppleTV+, that's an extra $120 million dollars in revenue per year to apple.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swrobel Avatar
13 months ago
How’d they spend $100m when blasting all of us with iPhone ads & pushes was free?!
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
13 months ago
Good thing for those iPhone ads. 😂
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
13 months ago
Brad Pitt is always a safe bet. There’s hardly any duds on his resume for a reason. Considering how long he’s been at this, it’s an impressive filmography of great to decent movies. And now he’s still killing it at the box office in his 60s.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
b.inazawa-fan Avatar
13 months ago
I wasn't going to watch it until that one Wallet app notification. I went after that and recommended it to all my friends and family.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)