professorkamrankhan@gmail.com 
“F1” already had by far Apple’s highest opening weekend in theaters, but now it’s expected to cross $400 million, and has become one of star Brad Pitt’s most successful movies.
In 2024, the question was whether Apple could ever produce a truly hit movie, and “F1” was believed to be its last attempt. Then in late June 2025, it opened to a record — for Apple — of over $55 million from 3,661 theaters across the US.
The film opened internationally at the same time, and the global box office take was predicted to surpass $300 million by mid-July. Instead, at time of writing on July 18, 2025, the film is estimated to have earned $399,481,913 worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
All films see their box office takings decline after their opening weekend, and partly because studios do their best to make that weekend start no later than Thursday. Still, weekends remain the peak time for any movie, and at least domestically “F1” has done steady business since opening:
- First US weekend: $57,001,667
- Second US weekend: $25,781,267
- Third US weekend: $13,061,682
So the film’s earnings have roughly halved each week in the US, and while no global detail is available, it’s likely to have dropped by similar proportions. While reasonably typical, it’s also impressive that “F1” has maintained this success when two weekends after it opened, the new “Superman” movie launched to $125,021,735 in US box office sales alone.
Nonetheless, “F1” is now officially only $8.5 million away from crossing the $400 million mark. For comparison, Brad Pitt’s most successful previous films have earned:
- World War Z: $540,455,876
- Troy: $497,409,852
- Mr and Mrs Smith: $487,287,646
- Ocean’s Eleven: $450,717,150
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: $377,426,903
What this means for Apple
All of Apple’s very comprehensive marketing push has paid off, and this could mean that the company will resume planning big-budget movies. It is already said to be looking at taking total control of distribution, rather than having to profit share with Warner Bros.
What it does not yet mean, though, is that the film is profitable. No official production budget has been revealed, and industry speculation has ranged from $200 million to $300 million.
Brad Pitt stars in Apple’s original film F1. Image credit: Scott Garfield/Warner Bros/Apple Original Films
Even if the cost of production was closer to the lower end of that range, there is still the enormously expensive distribution and marketing costs. Apple has been said to have spent $50 million promoting “F1,” but that’s likely to be severely underestimated.
Nonetheless, the general industry rule of thumb is that a film must make back 2.5 times its costs in order to be considered profitable. Taking a $200 million production budget and a $50 million marketing one, “F1” would need to earn $625 million to be in profit.
However, that rule of thumb works solely on the theatrical release of a movie. Apple may have spent this money to get the film made and shown in theaters, but it will then likely give it a paid-for on-demand release.
And then it will stream it on Apple TV+, where it’s at least likely to mean the streamer adds more subscribers.
So despite almost certainly crossing $400 million in box office sales during the coming weekend, it’s unlikely that “F1” will be profitable in the traditional sense. It’s just even more unlikely now that it won’t ultimately prove to be a very profitable movie for Apple.
Currently, Apple has only one more movie due out in theaters. That’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” a much more low-budget offering, which is due out on August 22, 2025.
But in anticipation of the success of “F1,” Apple has already spent tens of millions of dollars just signing its makers to a deal to make a UFO conspiracy thriller.
