F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali believes that the forthcoming F1 movie will have an even greater impact on the sport than Drive to Survive.

Possibly the only good thing to come out of the pandemic was the fact that around the world millions of bored Millennials and Generation Z discovered the sport courtesy of the Netflix series as they sought to pass the time during the lockdowns.

As they watched the heavily stylised drama-documentary, behind the scenes organisers were ensuring that the sport would be among the first to remerge, and though the heavily revised calendar included visits to new circuits, others that had been mothballed and some which were forced to host two races, F1 clearly benefitted for once the all-clear was sounded the sport had a whole new audience and has never looked back.

Now comes the movie, and as one would expect a number of the industry's heavy hitters are involved, not least director Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun fame, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Brad Pitt.

The movie, which is imaginatively titled 'F1', is due for release next summer and has had the full cooperation of the sport, the makers given access that others could only dream of.

In addition to having garages at races, the two APXGP cars - the team for which veteran Pitt drives - have been seen on track - up to the moments before the actual races get underway - and all current drivers will have cameos, not least Lewis Hamilton who has been extremely active in the movie both as an advisor and producer.

A few years back Sylvester Stallone attempted to make an F1 movie but such were the demands of Bernie Ecclestone that the actor opted for IndyCar instead, and while other movies have featured the sport, for many John Frankenheimer's 1966 film Grand Prix remains the benchmark.

F1 will be entirely different however, certainly in terms of authenticity, even if the recent trailer didn't entirely convince, Pitt telling his (female) technical director: "OK. Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston, now McLaren all have us beat on the straights. Our shot is battling in the turns. We need to build our car for combat."

Hmm.

Asked what impact the movie will have on the sport, Domenicali is in no doubt.

"Massive!" he tells Motorsport.com. "I think that if Netflix was big, I think that the movie, and we discussed in Hungary the plan of commercialisation and promotion, will be massive.

"We're going to hit a target that is not yet present," he adds.

With a clear eye on the potential, F1 was determined that the lessons of the past be learned and that other than authenticity the movie should actually seek to push new boundaries, much like the sport itself has done over the decades. Organisers are determined that it won't be just another film about motor racing.

"There was one element that was not negotiable," says Domenicali, "to do something unique. "But in the context where we cannot touch the racing itself," he adds, "because that's the sport, with different cuts, with different elements, we are doing a movie.

"So I do believe that you will be fascinated also to see the making of it, because people will realise the complexity that we are managing and the things that are behind it. It is really impressive.

"I believe that it will be interesting on both sides, understanding that we were able to keep the live sport alive. But when you're going to see the movie, you're going to understand what it will be."

Indeed, the Italian believes that coverage of the sport can benefit from the movie.

"We are developing together new technology of cameras, with different angles of view," he says. "So I would say it's a nice place to develop certain new technology that we're going to bring afterwards."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Italian Job, 25/08/2024 11:49

"@kenji
"A financially dangerous business to be in" - isn't that what motorsport (not just F1) has always been? Hoping (and no more) for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?"

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2. Posted by kenji, 22/08/2024 12:15

"I don't know whether or not things have changed markedly but when I was in the business a feature film [ with bankable talent starring ] would be allocated, as an average/rule of thumb marketing expense at 35% of negative cost. Different studios utilised different accounting procedures but were all close. Further expenses such as print numbers depending on opening sizes and distribution and rental incomes all add up. With such large up front costs many films just never see any black ink! Many films rely on ancilliaries/disc/streaming etc etc to finally show a profit. A financially dangerous business to be in."

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 22/08/2024 8:51

"Total aside… Just noticed the latest Cate Blanchett movie “Borderlands” (based off an excellent video game) has totally bombed. $120M Us budget, $22M US at the box office. They are moving it to streaming in a record short time. Tragic waste of a great seed idea (the game), and an excellent actor (Cate). Will the F1 movie do the same…? Or be Brad’s Top Gun Maverick…?!
"

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4. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 20/08/2024 22:56

"@Max Noble - Nice prediction, considering its reported that the budget for this F1 movie is around $300M. The studio and all involved will hope your prediction comes true just to break even.

Agreed that Rush focused more on the characters than the spectacle, maybe with the director of TGM and the guy who wrote the Transformers sequels working on this movie, you may very well get your adrenaline pumping spectacle. "

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5. Posted by habentsen, 20/08/2024 9:52

""We are developing together new technology of cameras, with different angles of view," he says. "So I would say it's a nice place to develop certain new technology that we're going to bring afterwards."

I have an idea, how about using the cameras you already have and show the cars, not all those shots of fans?
"

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6. Posted by Max Noble, 20/08/2024 9:05

"@Celtic Tiger - just did a quick check. “Rush” cost $38M US to film, and took… $98.2M US at the box office… ouch. Then Stallone’s “Driven” reportedly cost around $90M US to make, and took… $54.7M US at the box office… double ouch…

(For reference; Top Gun Maverick took $1.49B US (yes, billion…), while Deadpool and Wolverine is currently sitting on $1.14B US - them’s real dollars folks!)

Even as a life-long F1 fan I found “Rush” to be “fascinating” rather than the “OMG rush of blood to the head!” Experience that TG Maverick was.

According to IMDB Brad Pitt’s top grossing movie is “World War Z” at $540M US. OK - that’s a reasonable pile of lunch money. So… what are we betting folks? More than Driven ($54.7M), but less than WW Z ($540M)…? I’m going out on a limb… and predicting a box office around $300M… Let’s see what happens - I cannot wait to see what they’ve produced (but I might wait for it to come to a streaming service if it tanks…!)

"

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7. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 20/08/2024 6:34

""Massive" is kool-aid drinking levels of expectation. The way I see it, there will probably be a good opening weekend, since its Brad Pitt. He puts asses in seats. Then people will walk out and tell all others that this is more woke Hollywood garbage and the box office drop will be hilarious.

I'd like to be proven wrong but I doubt it. Modern F1 is neutered and too polished. Its all fur coat and no knickers. You would be hard pressed to stoke the levels of awe, excitement and inspiration of the eras that came and went before it. Ron Howard did it right in picking the era in Rush because frankly speaking, compared to the 60s,70s, 80, 90s and even early 2000s current F1 is so f@#king beige."

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8. Posted by Superbird70, 19/08/2024 19:30

"Pure fiction. They have 11 teams in the movie, inconceivable."

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9. Posted by Chester, 19/08/2024 14:51

"It will likely have a positive impact on demand for F1 tickets. Unfortunately, the ratio of true future fans vs. latest-fad-fans is likely to be low.

"

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10. Posted by JamesD, 19/08/2024 14:37

"Massive ? Massive pile of steaming stuff that farmers spread on the fields if DTS is anything to go by.

Sorry Lewis ..."

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Domenicali believes F1 movie will be "massive"

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