Box Office Report: Vroom Vroom

Warner Bros. and Apple are hoping that F1: The Movie will be a worldwide smash hit that will lead to box office grosses that rival those of some of the biggest Summer blockbusters. They’ve spent a reported $300 million on making this film a big deal (although a lot of coverage is keen to stress that it might have only cost $200 million.) They brought on board Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski as well as a murderer’s row of talent and Formula 1 favourites. And also Brad Pitt (f*ck that guy.) Formula 1 is a very big deal, but is it enough to make this film a hit? Well, in its opening weekend, it’s doing solid business.

It earned $55.6 million domestically, which is enough to make it the number one hit of the weekend. That’s… okay for a North American opening of a movie on this scale, but nothing to write home about. Internationally, it’s doing stronger business, as expected. So far, its worldwide gross has topped $144 million. If this thing did indeed cost $300 million (and that’s a conservative number in my book because most blockbusters cost way more than officially reported), then it needs to make at least $750 million to break even. That requires a slow burn Summer of good word of mouth and repeat viewings. It worked for Top Gun: Maverick, but that was a legacy sequel with a more proven hitmaker in the lead role. The selling point here is Formula 1 itself, which has devoted fans, but will they want more of this when they can watch the real thing at home? Given that this movie is an extended advert for the sport, the real money will be in long-term things like the home releases, endless TV broadcast rights, and product tie-ins, which currently include McDonald’s, Heineken, Hot Wheels, Tommy Hilfiger, and more. Sponsorships from various brands featured in the movie brought in at least $40 million, according to Forbes. So, it might not even matter if it doesn’t break even at the box office. As long as the money keeps coming in from the Saudi dictatorship, they’ll be fine. This movie is what we call sportswashing. Also, f*ck Brad Pitt as always.

The weekend wasn’t so good for evil sassy robots. M3GAN 2.0, the rushed-out sequel to the surprise Blumhouse sci-fi horror hit, landed at number four with a limp $10.2 million from 3,112 theatres. That put it just ahead of Pixar’s Elio, which saw its grosses fall almost 49% in its second week of release.

Sorry, Baby, a Sundance hit that was written, directed by, and stars Eva Victor, made $86,492 from four locations. That’s impressive stuff, especially when compared to another indie drama Hot Milk, which opened in 375 cinemas and only earned $40,500.

Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece In the Mood for Love just turned 25. It was recently crowned one of the greatest films of the 21st century in a recent New York Times poll. If you haven’t seen it, believe the hype for it truly is a perfect film. While it only screened in one location, it did well enough to bring in $52,000 in anniversary screenings.

Documentary The Last Class, featuring legendary economist Robert Reich (he’s Sam’s dad!), grossed $10,650 from one place. Albert Serra’s award-winning documentary about bullfighting, Afternoons of Solitude, made $9,133 from one theatre.

This coming week sees the release of Jurassic World: Rebirth. Everybody walk the dinosaur.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office numbers here.