Apple has not officially greenlit a sequel to last year's blockbuster F1: The Movie, but the studio and its key producing partner are talking about it openly. At the Cannes Lions festival this week, Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue and producer Jerry Bruckheimer both said a second film is in the works. Cue was on hand to accept Cannes Lions' Entertainment Person of the Year award.
According to Variety, Bruckheimer kicked off their joint appearance on stage by saying, "We're going to come back and hopefully make another F1." Cue followed with his own version of the same message. "We're going to do it again. Hopefully, we're doing another Formula 1 movie. I think everyone wants to see another one. It was Brad Pitt's biggest movie of all time. … It was a great story, it was fun, and you loved it when you were walking out of the theater or watching it at home," Cue said.
The original F1: The Movie, starring Pitt as a retired race car driver returning to the Formula 1 circuit, earned $634 million at the worldwide box office. Bruckheimer described the reaction he hears from audiences constantly. "So many people come to me and say, 'Jerry, when I want to show my kids something, I'll turn on F1 because I feel so good after seeing the movie,' and that's what we try to do. We try to entertain audiences around the world and tell them a great story, excite them, make them laugh, make them cry, make them feel better when they walk out," Bruckheimer said.
He also credited Cue directly for the film getting made at all. "Thanks to Eddy, we had that opportunity to do it, and we're so fortunate that he's a sports fan and an F1 fan. Without him, I don't think the movie would have gotten made," Bruckheimer said.
The F1 sequel is not the only project the two sides are developing together. Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski, who helmed both F1 and Top Gun: Maverick, are planning a UAP conspiracy thriller for Apple. Bruckheimer described it as a film grounded in real events. "It's kind of All the President's Men about what the government has been hiding, what's been going on with UAPs [or unidentified anomalous phenomena] all these years. We found these two gentlemen who were working for the government and couldn't quite figure out what was going on, seeing these anomalies, and kept asking a lot of questions, and had a lot of doors shut up," Bruckheimer said. He added that the film "is going to be a true story, and it's going to be, I mean, mind-boggling."
Cue, who oversees Apple TV, Apple Music, and Apple's film and television studios, spoke at the festival about how the company approaches content. He traced Apple's philosophy back to Steve Jobs, recalling a question he once asked Jobs about why Pixar could consistently produce hits. Jobs told him it is "always about the story," Cue said. "It begins and ends with the story. If you don't have a story, you can't have a great show."
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Cue and Bruckheimer also discussed the theatrical release strategy for F1. The film was initially promised a 45-day theatrical window, but Apple left it in theaters longer than planned. "We pitched [F1] to nine different exhibitors, studios, and Apple came to us with the most creative way, keeping in theaters, they said, for 45 days," Bruckheimer said. "But as it turned out, they left it there as long as people were buying tickets, which was really a great experience for audiences."
No release date has been announced for either the F1 sequel or the UAP thriller.
