Brad Pitt’s latest movie, F1, has sped past all of the other movies in the actor’s acclaimed filmography to set a new box office record for the Hollywood star.
F1, or to be precise, F1: The Movie, has recently surpassed $545m (£410m) at the global box office, higher than what was once Pitt’s biggest hit, 2013’s World War Z, which achieved $540m (£407m).
In addition, filmmaker Joseph Kosinski’s F1 also set a record for Apple Studios as it outperformed Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon ($221m) and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon ($158m), to become the company’s highest-grossing theatrical release of all time.
Pitt, 61, plays the role of veteran driver Sonny Hayes, who returns to the grid after a long absence with fictional team APX GP.
Among his other box office hits are Mr and Mrs Smith ($487m), Ocean’s Eleven ($450m) and Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood ($377m). The Quentin Tarantino-directed Once Upon a Time... also earnt Pitt an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2020.
Asides from films in which Pitt had a lead or major role, the only film he has appeared in with a bigger box office revenue than F1 is Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 2, in which Pitt appeared in a brief cameo role. The film earnt $785m (£591m) at the box office in 2018.
F1, of which seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is an executive producer, was released in June to mixed reviews.
In a two-star review The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “For a film both produced by and starring (in a brief but pivotal role) Hamilton, and otherwise happily populated by a real who’s who of the current F1 scene, Ehren Kruger’s script sidelines much of the real skill involved here, all those split-second decisions of when to pit and when to overtake.
“Instead, we’re called on to root for Pitt’s washed-up veteran Sonny Hayes, an obnoxiously skewed take on Tom Cruise’s Maverick who treats the track like his own personal Ben-Hur chariot race.”
Despite its impressive box office takings, F1 is still way off the top of the leaderboard when it comes to the biggest films of 2025.
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch ($1bn/£753m) and Warner Bros A Minecraft Movie ($955m/£719m) both lead the way in Hollywood, with Jurassic World: Rebirth, starring Scarlett Johansson, trailing just behind after earning an impressive $766m (£577m).
These, though, pale in comparison to the Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2, which has earnt $1.8bn (£1.3bn) worldwide. The majority of its box-office revenue has come from China, although it was also released internationally. An English-language version of the film is now in production, featuring voice work from Michelle Yeoh.
