{"id":22292,"date":"2025-06-28T16:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T16:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/22292\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T16:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T16:56:09","slug":"brad-pitts-f1-movie-at-strong-opening-day-m3gan-2-0-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/22292\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Pitt’s F1 Movie at Strong Opening Day, M3GAN 2.0 Quiet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tApple Studios<\/a> is scoring its biggest opening ever with the Brad Pitt<\/a> racing thriller \u201cF1<\/a>,\u201d headed for first in its box office debut. Meanwhile, Universal\u2019s \u201cM3GAN 2.0<\/a>\u201d isn\u2019t catching the same spark in its opening, projecting a fourth place start behind holdovers \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d and \u201cElio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn top, \u201cF1\u201d hit the track with $25 million across Friday and previews from 3,661 locations. (A small asterisk: that\u2019s boosted by $2.8 million from specialty screenings dating before Thursday, the weekday when wide releases traditionally first start collecting grosses.) The movie is playing in Imax auditoriums and most other premium-large formats too. Apple outsourced distribution here, partnering with Warner Bros. The team-up has made a splash.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndustry tracking was all over the place for \u201cF1,\u201d given the relative rarity of big-budget adult-skewing productions outside of established film franchises (though the Formula One Group\u2019s branding and grand prix racing tournaments are still globally popular IP \u2014 the basis for most summer tentpoles). \u201cF1\u201d is now on pace to hit the upper end of its pre-weekend forecasts, which were predicting a debut as high as $60 million. The movie is already Apple\u2019s biggest opening weekend ever, surpassing the $23.2 million three-day bow of \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a sizable stateside launch for \u201cF1,\u201d and the film is expected to be heavily buoyed by international grosses given Formula One\u2019s popularity overseas. Apple spent big on its stab at a summer blockbuster, at a production budget north of $200 million. Of course, Apple is also a multi-trillion-dollar tech giant, with one theatrical release having relatively little immediate impact on its bottom line, especially compared to traditional studios. Still, the company would like to deliver a hit here and establish itself as a true theatrical presence, especially after its expensive 2024 commercial plays, \u201cArgylle\u201d and \u201cFly Me to the Moon,\u201d failed to find footing in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe duo of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski (coming off delivering a monster hit in 2022 with \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d) have delivered another crowdpleaser with \u201cF1.\u201d Reviews have been positive and audience pollster Cinema Score delivered a glowing \u201cA\u201d grade. Those great notices could portend strong staying power, if \u201cF1\u201d can keep up as \u201cJurassic World: Rebirth\u201d and \u201cSuperman\u201d release in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the android actioner \u201cM3GAN 2.0\u201d earned a muted $4.5 million across Friday and preview screenings. It\u2019s now projected for a three-day debut of $10.4 million. That\u2019s way behind its projections for $20 million and just over a third of what the first \u201cM3GAN\u201d earned in its breakout opening back in January 2023, lifted by the momentum of TikTok dancing meme-dom.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not a flattering comp considering Universal and Blumhouse\/Atomic Monster doubled the spending for this sequel. At a $25 million production budget, the film is still much less of a financial burden than the average franchise play. All told, \u201cM3GAN 2.0\u201d doesn\u2019t need to draw a massive crowd to turn a profit (and the \u201cB+\u201d grade on Cinema Score indicates good buzz from viewers).<\/p>\n

\n\tBut this is shaping up to be a rough drop-off from the box office performance of the original \u201cM3GAN\u201d \u2014 not to mention this sequel garnered much worse reviews. The failure to deliver a franchise opening is all the more rankling considering a spin-off, titled \u201cSoulm8te,\u201d has already been shot and slated for a January 2026 release from Universal. \u201cM3GAN 2.0\u201d continues what has been a quiet year for Blumhouse, which has kept with its tradition of tight budgets, but hasn\u2019t found much upside in titles like \u201cWolf Man,\u201d \u201cThe Woman in the Yard\u201d and \u201cDrop.\u201d The banner\u2019s next at-bat is another sequel, \u201cThe Black Phone 2,\u201d releasing from Universal in October.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Universal can still claim second place with \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon,\u201d which added another $5.7 million on Friday and is projecting a 48% drop for a third-weekend gross of $19 million. The live-action remake has a shot at surpassing a $200 million domestic total through Sunday, and will soon after fly ahead of \u201cCaptain America: Brave New World\u201d ($200.5 million) to rank as the fourth-highest-grossing North American release of 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney and Pixar\u2019s \u201cElio\u201d is narrowly projected for third, earning another $3.2 million on Friday. (That\u2019s more than \u201cM3GAN 2.0\u201d after factoring out Thursday preview grosses.) The original alien adventure is actually looking at a good hold in its second outing, though not strong enough to overcome its rough opening weekend, which broke the record for Pixar\u2019s lowest ever. \u201cElio\u201d has now earned $34.7 million domestically through its first eight days of release \u2014\u00a0a disappointing start for the $150 million production.<\/p>\n

\n\tRounding out the top five, Sony\u2019s \u201c28 Years Later\u201d is getting a big bite taken out of it. The hopeful trilogy-starter earned $3 million on Friday and is projecting a second weekend of $9.5 million, down 68% from its opening. Great reviews haven\u2019t shielded director Danny Boyle\u2019s zombie thriller from a sharp drop. Domestic total is expected to hit $50 million through the first 10 days. A sequel, \u201c28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,\u201d has already filmed and is expected to release in January. Boyle has openly discussed that financing for a third and final entry is dependent on box office performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple Studios is scoring its biggest opening ever with the Brad Pitt racing thriller \u201cF1,\u201d headed for first…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[20488,1043,171,1463,14349,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-22292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-apple-studios","9":"tag-brad-pitt","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-m3gan-2-0","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}