This story contains spoilers for F1: The Movie.
Could an F1 sequel already be on the way? The Brad Pitt/Damson Idris racing drama F1: The Movie lapped its box-office competition last weekend, taking in a gargantuan $144 million worldwide (which would be almost enough to fund an average Formula One team’s entire season, according to Google.) It’s also just $54 million—or $94 million, or $144 million, depending on who you ask—short of the film’s production budget. Either way, the film is off to a stellar start, and as Variety notes, might even be on track to become Apple Original Films’ first commercial hit. F1 has also been astonishingly well received by actual moviegoers, winning a coveted “A” grade from CinemaScore.
Suffice to say, these positive early signs all point towards F1: The Movie having many more laps in the tank. And that’s great news for those of you who want to see the adventures of Pitt’s Sonny Hayes continue in an F1 sequel. When GQ UK spoke to director Joseph Kosinski about the chances of a sequel, he seemed interested in making a follow-up, noting that there was “more to tell” about Apex and Hayes. But it would all depend on how audiences responded to the first one. “I think we leave it on a really open-ended moment for Sonny, for Kate, and for Joshua,” he said. “But that’s not my decision.”
Pitt’s costar, racing legend Damson Idris, sounded a more cautionary note when asked about the possibility of an F1 sequel by The Athletic this past week. “I think the worst thing we probably could do is rush into doing a sequel,” he said. “Most sequels are way worse. So we don’t need to rush it.”
But the more the movie flies at the box office, the likelier it feels that a sequel will be made. And there’s even half-serious talk of Hayes meeting up with Cole Trickle—Tom Cruise’s character from cult racing hit Days of Thunder, that is. Here’s everything we know.
What could happen in the F1 sequel?
Well, Kosinski said there’s more story to tell for our existing characters, so expect any prospective sequel to pick up with Sonny, Kate, Joshua, and the rest of Apex. Of course, by the end of F1, they’re in very different places—literally, with Sonny in the desert racing in the Baja 1000. Joshua, for his part, is still with Apex. What will come of the rookie in the team’s second season, and can he pick up the mantle left by his rival-turned-mentor? It’s a good question, and potentially rich ground to tackle in F1 2.
“I loved working with this group of people. I loved creating our own Formula One team,” Kosinski told Entertainment Weekly. “I’d love to see what’s up next for APXGP and Sonny Hayes.”
Alternatively, Kosinski had a blue-sky pitch for GQ UK when asked, off the cuff, what kind of movie he’d like to make combining the talents of Pitt and Cruise, who last worked together on 1994’s Interview with the Vampire. “Well, right now, it’d be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruise’s] Days of Thunder character, we find out that he and Sonny Hayes have a past,” he said. “They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths…” Pitt vs. Cruise in a racing movie? We’d wager that few are turning that down—and it almost happened once already, also with Kosinski’s direction.
Has an F1 sequel been confirmed?
A sequel to F1 is yet to get the green light, but with it putting in such impressive mileage at the box office, only expect the call for a follow-up to get louder. In the meantime, you can always give F1 another spin.
