Will Brad Pitt's 'F1' Kickstart Apple's Big-Screen Empire?

Apple's big-budget racing film "F1" is one of the company's most significant entertainment bets to date, but a new report from the Wall Street Journal suggests the movie is facing an uphill battle to win over a broad audience. The film, which cost nearly $250 million to produce, embodies Apple's strategy of creating high-end, aspirational content, though the company has yet to score a major box-office hit.



The movie, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski of "Top Gun: Maverick" fame, follows an aging driver's last shot at glory. Apple reportedly outbid nearly every major Hollywood studio for the project, agreeing to a lavish budget that included a payday of over $20 million for Pitt. Apple executives are said to be hoping "F1" becomes the land-based equivalent of "Top Gun: Maverick," which grossed $1.5 billion in 2022.


Despite the high hopes and sleek production values, the report notes that prerelease surveys show "F1" is struggling to generate interest beyond older men. Its performance at the box office is being viewed as a key test of Apple's ability to blend its curated content strategy with mass-market appeal.



The challenge reflects Apple TV+'s broader position in the streaming landscape. The service has a smaller subscriber base than its rivals and a higher churn rate, with an estimated 6% of subscribers canceling in a given month compared to 2% for Netflix, according to research firm Antenna. It has earned a reputation for critically acclaimed but not always mainstream series like "Slow Horses" and "Severance," a strategy CEO Tim Cook has defended. "We elected not to go out and procure a catalog," Cook recently told Variety. "Apple should have something that we pour our passion into, and that's exactly what we're doing with the shows."

Apple has put its full weight behind "F1." As we've previously reported, the company even developed a custom iPhone-based camera rig to capture authentic racing footage. The film was also heavily promoted during the recent Worldwide Developers Conference, and Cook has personally hyped it alongside producers Brad Pitt and Lewis Hamilton. You can learn more about their collaboration in our previous coverage here.




The company is relying on Warner Bros. for theatrical distribution, which presents its own potential challenge. The studio is releasing its most important movie of the year, "Superman," just two weeks after "F1." A Warner Bros. spokeswoman stated the company is giving "F1" a "robust global marketing campaign that befits a film of its size." According to the report, this reliance on an outside studio may not be permanent, as Apple executives have reportedly discussed starting their own theatrical distribution unit. Apple has also released multiple trailers for the film, which you can view here.

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