F1 dominates – Brad Pitt’s F1 keeps pulling in attention on Apple TV a year after its theatrical run, while Pitt’s next on-screen sprint is already lined up for 2026. The film’s streaming dominance follows major box-office success and a formula critics say feels like a blend
By the time a year has passed, most big-screen hits have already faded into the background. F1 hasn’t.
Brad Pitt’s racing action spectacle—released first in theaters and later on Apple TV—has kept its momentum. continuing to sit atop streaming charts months after its Apple TV premiere.. The film has also been widely celebrated at the box office: F1 raced out of theaters after grossing over $630 million globally against a $200 million budget.. Critics and audiences backed that roar from the start, with Rotten Tomatoes scoring it 82% from critics and 79% from audiences.
The staying power matters now because Pitt is about to hit another high-profile checkpoint in 2026. returning to one of his most important roles. Cliff Booth.. Pitt first played the legendary character in 2019’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.. Tarantino. however. passed on directing the sequel film—The Adventures of Cliff Booth—leaving the directorial reins to David Fincher. while Tarantino still wrote the script.. For Fincher, it’s also his first feature script since the 2019 Oscar-winner.
Pitt’s calendar is already getting another jolt at the same time.. He’ll also reunite with director David Ayer for a new action-adventure thriller. Heart of the Beast. which co-stars J.K.. Simmons.. Details like the release date remain unclear. but the film is expected to be in theaters before the end of the year.. Pitt and Ayer last worked together in 2014 on the epic and visceral WWII thriller Fury.
Back to F1—and the part that helps explain why it refuses to cool off.. The movie has been framed as a mash-up of Top Gun: Maverick and Fast & Furious: it brings the visceral action that draws viewers to Top Gun. but it does it inside a car. in the spirit of Fast & Furious.. The film stars Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, and Kerry Condon, alongside a host of real F1 racing stars.
F1’s story is led by former Formula 1 prodigy Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt.. He’s called out of retirement by his long-time friend and partner Ruben Cervantes, played by Javier Bardem.. Hayes also takes on the job of mentoring the young Joshua Pearce. played by Damson Idris—an arrangement the film positions as a partnership that might have what it takes to teach the top of the sport.
Joseph Kosinski, the director known for Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, directed F1, with the script coming from Ehren Krueger. The two worked closely together to shape the story for the film, with a collaboration process built around coming up with the narrative.
The timeline from theater to streaming is tightly connected to what’s keeping F1 on top: it grossed over $630 million globally on a $200 million budget. then premiered on Apple TV months after its run. and it still “stands unchallenged at the top of streaming charts” all this time later.. That same momentum is reinforced by how the film has been described as combining Top Gun: Maverick-style energy with Fast & Furious-style car action. which matches the reason audiences stayed locked in—one reason Pitt’s next major projects are being watched even more closely.
F1’s official details also spell out the scale behind the motion: its release date is June 27. 2025. and it runs 156 minutes.. Along with Kosinski’s directing credit. the movie is positioned as a high-octane follow-through on Pitt’s last major headline. where it became the highest-grossing movie of his career.
If the year 2025 was about getting F1 fully into motion, 2026 looks like it’s about what Pitt does next—while his current champion on Apple TV continues racing ahead.
Brad Pitt F1 Apple TV streaming charts Joseph Kosinski Ehren Krueger Cliff Booth The Adventures of Cliff Booth David Fincher Quentin Tarantino Heart of the Beast David Ayer J.K. Simmons