In the fall of 2023, Apple Film took a couple of major swings with a pair of internationally beloved directors, and things didn’t work out precisely as planned. Both Martin Scorsese‘s Killers Of The Flower Moon and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon earned acclaim and awards upon their theatrical release, but they had huge budgets and failed to do much business at the box office. And then things went from bad to worse when Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle flopped in early 2024. It was a tough stretch for a studio trying to establish itself as a major player in the industry – and a little over a year later, a bounce back effort has started on the 2025 movie release schedule.
Joseph Kosinski‘s F1, featuring the star power of Brad Pitt, is Apple’s biggest theatrical release since the disaster of Argylle, and while being just as expensive to make as the three features mentioned above, the film has begun its box office run on much stronger footing domestically. The early results for the weekend are in, and after you check out the full Top 10 below, join me for analysis!
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. F1* | $55,600,000 | $55,600,000 | N/A | 3,661 |
| 2. How To Train Your Dragon | $19,400,000 | $200,057,000 | 1 | 4,127 |
| 3. Elio | $10,700,000 | $42,225,747 | 3 | 3,750 |
| 4. M3GAN 2.0* | $10,200,000 | $10,200,000 | N/A | 3,112 |
| 5. 28 Years Later | $9,700,000 | $50,354,000 | 2 | 3,444 |
| 6. Lilo & Stitch | $6,900,000 | $400,070,904 | 4 | 2,900 |
| 7. Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning | $4,150,000 | $185,996,000 | 5 | 2,157 |
| 8. Materialists | $2,999,423 | $30,401,382 | 6 | 1,931 |
| 9. Ballerina | $2,130,000 | $55,473,000 | 7 | 1,796 |
| 10. Karate Kid: Legends | $1,000,000 | $51,592,000 | 8 | 925 |
F1 Easily Finishes In First Place With Apple Film’s First $50 Million-Plus Domestic Debut
Like Killers Of The Flower Moon, Napoleon and Argylle, F1 cost a hell of a lot of money to make. If you think the globe-trotting sports movie epic from the director of Top Gun: Maverick looks expensive, you’re absolutely right, as The Hollywood Reporter says that the production operated with a $200 million budget (that figure not including marketing and publicity costs). It’s likely going to take a minute before the film gets into the black, but here are a couple feathers in its cap: it just had Apple’s biggest opening weekend yet, and it took just three days to outgross the studio’s last attempt at a blockbuster.
According to The Numbers, F1 easily took the top spot at the domestic box office this weekend with a $55.6 million take. That’s obviously not Top Gun: Maverick money (the Tom Cruise feature made $126.7 million in the United States and Canada when it took off in 2022), but it is enough to count as the thirteenth biggest debut of the year so far (just ahead of Len Wiseman‘s Ballerina) and it is notably the best performance for a Brad Pitt-led title since Marc Forster’s World War Z all the way back in 2013.
The ticket sales are more than double what Killers Of The Flower Moon ($23.3 million) and Napoleon ($20.6 million) made when they respectively launched. It’s not unexpected given that F1 ‘s summer blockbuster vibe is generally more appealing to mass audiences than historical epics, but it’s still significant.
The picture gets rosier when one factors in foreign box office as well – which was definitely expected given the tremendous popularity of Formula 1 racing outside of North America. Padding the $55.6 million haul domestically is $88.4 million coming from theaters abroad, bringing its three day total to $144 million.
Again, the title has a long way to go to be considered a true success given the amount of money that went into the making of it, but sighs of relief are earned given that what we’re seeing is definitely not the start of a box office disaster.
Of course, it should be noted that getting off to a fast start was extremely important for F1 – because this is the one and only weekend when it will be getting the spotlight at the box office. Formula 1 racing may be the favorite sport of many around the world and Brad Pitt may be one of the last true movie stars, but the slate of blockbusters coming up in July are expected to be a force. We’re now just days away from the mid-week arrival of Gareth Edwards‘ Jurassic World: Rebirth, and no title with “Jurassic World” in its title has made less than $145 million in its opening weekend. James Gunn’s launch of the DC Universe is coming a little over a week after that, and Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is waiting at the end of the month.
Can F1 avoid a devastating 60-plus percent weekend-to-weekend drop come next Sunday? That will definitely be something I will be keeping my eye on for my box office column next week.
M3GAN 2.0 Fails To Inspire The Hype Of Its Predecessor And Lands In Fourth Place In Its Debut
In a weird way, Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN 2.0 has has the exact opposite box office narrative of F1. In the case of the Brad Pitt movie, it cost a hell of a lot to make, but expectations were really low for it after Apple’s previous blockbusters, so it’s performance can ultimately be seen as a success. Conversely, the new killer doll film, which had one-eighth the budget of its competition this weekend, was expected to live up to the tremendous success of its predecessor, and signs point right now to it ultimately being viewed as a disappointment.
After becoming a viral sensation prior to its release, the first M3GAN made $30.4 million when it arrived on the big screen in January 2023 (a big deal for what is generally seen as a down time for movie-going), and it went on to make $95.2 million domestically and $181.8 million globally. Shot-callers at Blumhouse decided that the best course of action for the sequel would be to make it a summer tentpole, and that decision has turned out to be a mistake: M3GAN 2.0 made just $10.2 million had to settle for fourth place behind Dean DuBlois’ How To Train Your Dragon ($19.4 million) and Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina’s Elio ($10.7 million).
Pre-release, critics weren’t as enamored with M3GAN 2.0 compared to the first movie, though CinemaScore surveys suggest audiences are preferring the sequel (it has a “B+” grade compared to M3GAN‘s “B”). It’s not obvious at this point why the follow-up is underperforming, but the situation does recall another time that Blumhouse attempted a season switch with one of their franchises: Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day was a big hit when it came out during spooky season in 2017 (making $125 million globally), but Happy Death Day 2U was released in time for Valentine’s Day 2019 and it made just $64.7 million during its theatrical run.
How will the arrival of Jurassic World: Rebirth shake things up when it arrives in theaters this Wednesday? Will cinemas see a boost thanks to the Independence Day holiday, or will people be too distracted by fireworks on Friday to see a new blockbuster? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for a full breakdown of everything that happens.
