‘F1’ Putting The Pedal To The Metal With $55M+ Opening, An Apple Original Films Record; ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Asleep At $10M – Friday PM Box Office

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FRIDAY AFTERNOON: F1 is accelerating right now to a $55M+ opening at 3,661 theaters with potential for upside. It’s by far the biggest opening ever for an Apple Original Movie on the big screen, miles ahead of Martin Scorsese’s 3-hour, 26-minute Killers of the Flower Moon ($23.2M opening, $68M final domestic). Friday alone for F1 is right around Killers of the Flower Moon‘s 3-day.

Right now, the Jerry Bruckheimer production from director Joseph Kosinski is shaping up to be the second-best opening for Pitt as a leading man after 2013’s World War Z ($66.4M). Talk about a comeback for Apple theatrically. Remember their period NASA rom-com $100M Fly Me to the Moon last summer? Remember the Pitt-George Clooney noir Wolfs? No! What are those? Even if F1 stays idle this weekend at this range, it’s a still a commendable success. Word is international is very strong, which makes all the sense in the world given the international appeal of Formula One racing.

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The other beautiful thing about this Apple made, Warner Bros.’ release car is that it pulled the 13-24 demo at 30% last night. That’s very impressive for a movie such as this which appear older skewing.

F1 is seriously warming up its engines, and we’ll be checking its oil throughout the weekend; Warners having worked tirelessly on the marketing and distribution front to make this Apple’s best.

RelishMix reports that F1‘s social media reach is a massive 845.6M across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X and Instagram “+62% above action adventure genre norms with notable late video view growth on Instagram over 400M.” F1‘s reach is right around Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (847.2M) and ahed of Fast X‘s 798M.

Second is Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon at 4,127 locations is looking at at $5.5M today, and a third frame of $18.5M (-49%) for a running cume of $199.1M (C’mon, we gotta get that to $200M this weekend!). The Dean DeBlois directed movie stands as the fifth to cross the double century mark YTD.

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Third goes to Disney/Pixar’s Elio which is seeing a second weekend of $11M-$12M, -45%, steeper than Elemental‘s second frame which dipped -38% for an $18.4M second weekend. It’s all about tomorrow, of course. At the high end by the EOD of Sunday, the 28th Pixar feature release stands around $43.4M.

There’s also Universal/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster’s M3GAN 2.0 at 3,112 theaters is powered down to an opening of $10M, well below where everybody was seeing it (worst case, we thought high teens). Friday is $4.3M. Thank God, she’s cheap at $25M before P&A. We’ll dissect her later.

Speaking of dismemberment, there’s a chance that M3GAN 2.0 could get bitten by zombies as Sony’s Danny Boyle revival 28 Years Later is looking at north of $10M, -67% in weekend 2, after a $3.3M second Friday, for a ten-day running total of $50.6M by EOD Sunday.

FRIDAY AM: Apple Original Films’ F1 via Warner Bros. sped to $10M in total previews from this week while Universal/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster’s M3GAN 2.0 drew $1.5M.

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The Joseph Kosinski-directed, Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Formula One movie starring Brad Pitt, arguably the first-of-its-kind tentpole for Apple Original Films on the big screen, bested the preview grosses of such expensive Apple movies as Ridley Scott’s Napoleon ($3M), Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon ($2.6M), Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle ($1.7M) and Greg Berlanti’s Fly Me to the Moon ($875K). F1 also smokes the previews of another car-racing movie, the multi-Oscar-winning, solid-grossing Ford v Ferrari, which is actually a high point for the struggling motor sports genre at the box office — the best that there has been in recent times ($2.1M previews, $31.4M opening).

Broken out, F1 did $7M last night from showtimes that began at 3PM and another $3M from earlier week Imax and PLF previews. Based on early results, and the way the engines have been firing for this film, a $50M+ opening appears likely. Warner Bros. chipped in 50% of the global P&A. Both Apple and Warners recoup the P&A together before the Burbank, CA lot gets a distribution fee around 8%. Production costs per the filmmaker in interviews is $200M (though I constantly get phone calls with the line “But, ya know, it cost $300M…). At the end of the day, get a grip people, F1 stands to open globally to $115M+. The Pitt movie is in great shape with Rotten Tomatoes Audience score of 97% and 84% certified fresh reviews.

M3GAN 2.0‘s previews are less than the original movie which did $2.75M and went on to a surprise $11.7M and $30.4M. M3GAN 2.0 will be lucky to clear $20M, last night’s previews from 2PM showtimes at 2,700 theaters around the level of Blumhouse’s Night Swim which did $1.45M and went on to post a $11.7M opening. No audience score yet. Critics loved the first movie at 93% certified fresh, but they’ve had enough with the robot gimmick at 59% Rotten. No audience score yet on the sequel from the franchise architect Gerard Johnstone. At the end of the day, M3GAN 2.0 is counterprogramming in the summer. The movie cost $25M before P&A versus $12M on the first.

In other news, Lilo & Stitch is crossing $400M this weekend, the second movie to do so this year after Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie.

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The rest of the week went down as follows:

1.) How to Train Your Dragon (Uni) Thu $4M (-15% from Wednesday), Wk $57.1M (-54%), Total $180.6M/Wk 2

2.) 28 Years Later (Sony) Thu $1.9M (-15%), Week $40.6M/Wk 1

3.) Elio (Dis) 3,750 theaters Thu $2.2M (-7%), Wk $31.4M, Wk 1

4.) Lilo & Stitch (Dis) 3,375 theaters, Thu $1.5M (+1%), Wk $16M (-39%), Total $393.1M, Wk 5

5.) Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (Par) 2,603 theaters, Thu $722K (-14%), Wk $10M (-37%), Total $181.8M/Wk 5

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