By Christofer Hamilton

Apple’s latest theatrical release, “F1: The Movie,” recently became the company’s first movie to top the box office in its opening weekend. Comparing this to other Apple movies, we can see how “F1” is leading other Apple releases in terms of U.S. demand. This is a promising signal for the film’s prospects on Apple TV+ as well as Formula 1’s global expansion potential.

In the days since premiering, “F1” outperformed recent Apple Original titles like “Napoleon,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Argylle.” The U.S. was the market with the highest demand for this movie, which may be a surprise given the lack of traction the sport has with Americans. As an example, we can see this when looking at the hugely successful “Drive to Survive” on Netflix. So far this year, the U.S. doesn’t even rank in the Top 10 markets with the highest demand for this show. Something particular about this movie helped it to break through with Americans (Brad Pitt’s star power may have something to do with that).