Still from Apple’s “F1.”
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Light out and go away.
“F1: Movie” has not even reached the checkered flag of the theatre run, but already Apple’s The best movie release ever.
Film, distribution Warner Bros Discoveryzoomed past $293 million at the global box office over the weekend. This led to Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” generating $221 million during its 2023 run, making it Apple’s best theatrical release.
Since delving into the media business in recent years, tech companies have only sent movies to cinemas with a wide range of releases. Flower Moon’s Killers tallied $158 million worldwide, Fly Me To The Moon for just $42 million, and Argylle generated $96 million ticket sales worldwide.
“‘F1’ is a very important film for Apple and the industry as a whole,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “This is the perfect test case for how streaming services develop tailed films for big screens, while promoting the film on millions of small screens that technical footprints place directly in front of subscribers.”
“F1” benefits greatly from its partnership imax. Before the production, Apple and film’s top creatives reached out to ensure not only the use of IMAX camera technology, but also a three-week release in theaters.
In fact, the “F1” trade meant that Universal “Revival of Jurassic World” did not receive domestic IMAX releases and was featured only on IMAX screens in China. The film will also appear on Japan’s IMAX screens next month.
“F1” generates $60 million in total global distance from the IMAX Theater, just over 20% of its total amount so far. Domestic, the film generates $27.4 million in ticket sales through IMAX screening, which is roughly 25% of film ticket sales in the US and Canada.
The film is nearing $300 million in global ticket sales, but there are a few more raps to make money for Apple. Reports say the film ranged between $200 million and $300 million, costing the market an estimated $100 million. The studio is also splitting receipts at Warner Bros. and theatres.
“Of course, mega-budget films like ‘F1’ can have a fairly long way to profitability given the various revenue divides with cinemas and Warner Bros., but Apple has the resources and cash reserves to take on that risk,” Dergarabedian said.
With Apple, success is very different from traditional studios. Entertainment is not the company’s main revenue driver and is not nearby. Apple has a market capitalization of $3 trillion, generating most of its revenue from its high-tech device suite.
And Apple isn’t just trying to spend money on movies and TV products to promote the sale of mobile phones, televisions and computers.
“We came into this business because we thought it was a good business,” Apple Services chief Eddy Cue said in a recent Bloomberg interview. “And to continue doing great things, the business needs to make money.”
Apple was the first streamer to gain momentum in the pop culture space with shows such as “Ted Lasso,” “Severance,” and “The Studio,” and won the Best Picture Award at the Oscar for “Coda” in 2021.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCuniversal and CNBC.
