- Reports indicate that the budget for Apple’s movie about Formula One has surpassed $300 million.
- That puts it just outside the top 10 among the most expensive films ever.
- In order to be considered anything other than a financial failure, it will have to be Pitt’s best-performing movie ever at the box office.
Hollywood is no stranger to big budgets, but even in La La Land, spending $300 million on a movie is extremely risky. Alarmingly, recent reports indicate that the budget for Brad Pitt movie about Formula One has crossed that threshold, bringing it close to becoming one of the 10 most expensive films ever.
As yet untitled, the F1 movie is being produced by Apple, and stars Brad Pitt as a retired driver who is asked to come back to the sport in order to mentor a young phenom. But other than Pitt, there are few big name stars to draw viewers, apart from its director, Joseph Kosinski, who’s last movie was Top Gun: Maverick, another film that put its star in real high-speed machinery.
Read: Brad Pitt And F1 Film Crew To Form “11th Team”, Driving On Track From Silverstone Onwards
Indeed, Pitt got behind the wheel of a real racecar for his upcoming film, though it wasn’t an F1 machine. Despite just being a modified F2 racer, the actors still needed training, insurance, and other considerations to drive the car, which Screen Rant reports is part of what has pushed the film’s budget so high.
That wasn’t the only factor increasing the budget, though. Production started in July 2023, just a few days before the SAG-AFTRA strike brought Hollywood to a standstill for 118 days, and in filmmaking, delays cost a lot of money.
If reports that Pitt’s F1 movie has crested the same $300 million figure (first published by Puck) are accurate, it would be just outside the top 10 as one of the most expensive films ever. As a result, in order to be considered a success, it will have to be the actor’s highest grossing film ever.
Although Pitt is considered an A-list celebrity, his best box office performance ever was in 2013 with World War Z, which made $540.4 million globally. That’s a lot of money, but in Hollywood, a movie typically needs to double its budget to reach a “break even” point for the studio. By that metric, the F1 movie will have to make over $600 million to be considered anything other than a failure.
Fortunately, the film has one advantage: it’s being distributed by Apple TV+, which has its own measures of success. In addition to box office returns, Pitt’s F1 movie will also be measured on its ability to win over streaming clients, which could help cover some of the film’s costs.