Summary
- Brad Pitt’s upcoming Formula One movie is on track to be one of the most expensive films ever made, reportedly costing over $300 million.
- Despite the high budget, Pitt’s movie faces the challenge of attracting audiences in a cinema climate where drama films struggle.
- The film’s production costs are sky-high due to realistic action sequences involving actual Formula One cars, adding to the financial burden.
Brad Pitt will be in the driving seat of one of the most expensive movies of all-time if new reports about his upcoming Formula One racing film are to be believed. While movies such as James Cameron’s Avatar, many Marvel movies and other epic, special effects-laden blockbusters are known for pushing the boundaries of cost, it seems that Pitt’s movie is revving up its costs to a total in excess of $300 million.
In recent years, the soaring budgets of many movies have led to some costly losses for studios, as the footfall of cinema audiences has not lived up to its potential. This is more often true of movies that lean away from sci-fi spectacle or big franchise names, which Pitt’s film set in the high-octane world of motor racing seems to be doing. With notable exceptions, such as Chris Nolan’s Oppenheimer, drama movies in general have been struggling to entice people to part with their money, and have become more successful on their subsequent streaming debuts.
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Pitt’s currently untitled movie is being directed by Top Gun: Maverick’sJoseph Kosinski, with a script by Ehren Kruger, and will tell the story of a retired driver who returns to the sport to mentor a younger talent. While the premise is one that has been the subject of dozens of sport-based movies over the years, there will be a lot of people hoping that this one can resonate with audiences in a big way to counter its staggering production budget, which has accumulated due to several factors.
Why Is Brad Pitt’s Formula One Movie Costing So Much?
Universal Pictures
According to the report from Puck, there have been many reasons for the soaring budget of what seems on the surface to be a petty run-of-the-mill, done-to-death storyline. The movie was originally announced in 2021, with production originally set to begin in July 2023. This was unable to happen due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which saw filming being postponed and taking a financial hit in the same way that many movies did during the Covid pandemic, and from the effects of the WGA strike earlier in 2023.
However, there is another reason for the astronomical costs of the relatively grounded movie, and that is the realism involved in the film’s action sequences. In a similar movie to Kosinski’s Top Gun sequel, which saw the director spending weeks filming Tom Cruise and others flying jets for very little footage, this film involves Pitt and other actors actually getting behind the wheel of Formula One racing cars and taking to the track. That means the cost of extensive training, expensive safety measures, and a no doubt extortionate insurance premium.
This decision paid off for Kosinski’s last movie, but it brought with it a strong nostalgic pull. Top Gun: Maverick already had a large fanbase behind it even before the film arrived in theaters, almost guaranteeing its success. Pitt’s movie will have a lot of legwork to do if it is to hit the kind of $750 million upwards box office result that it will need to even think of making a profit. The magnitude of this feat is even greater when considering Pitt’s highest grossing movie to-date is 2013’s World War Z, which made a total of $540.4 million.
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The film has enlisted an ensemble cast – another addition to its cost – including, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Lewis Hamilton, Javier Bardem, and Sarah Niles. At the moment, though, even this has not been enough to secure a distributor or release date for the project. Warner Bros. and Sony are reportedly the frontrunners expected to pick up the film, but it is currently unclear whether either of them are willing to take on the potentially expensive venture.
