For context, Killers Of The Flower Moon, which previously held the title for Apple’s best opening weekend with $23.2 million domestic (per Variety), only made $159 million internationally during its entire run. Apple Studios took a risk with F1‘s $200 million+ production budget (albeit a small one considering the tech giant’s humongous coffer), but the studio’s decision to partner with Warner Bros. for distribution purposes seems to be paying off in spades. In addition to the undeniable draw of the F1 name, people also raced to theaters to experience the latest fast-moving vehicles from Top Gun: Maverick team Kosinski (director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (producer) on the biggest screen possible. Deadline reports that the film made over $12.8 million on IMAX screens alone, which represented 23% of its domestic total. It’s only the eighth film in IMAX history to index over 20% during an opening weekend.
F1 also zoomed past this weekend’s other major opening, M3GAN 2.0. The dancing robot didn’t just have a bad race; she didn’t even make the podium, landing in fourth place with $10 million. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the franchise’s turn toward chatbot screenings and plots about AI seems to have landed pretty flat. It might be time for this one to power down for good.
You can check out the full top 10, courtesy of Box Office Mojo, below:
- F1: The Movie, $55,600,000
- How to Train Your Dragon, $19,400,000
- Elio, $10,700,000
- M3GAN 2.0, $10,200,000
- 28 Years Later, $9,700,000
- Lilo & Stitch, $6,900,000
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, $4,150,000
- Materialists, $2,999,423
- Ballerina, $2,130,107
- Karate Kid: Legends, $1,000,000
