‘F1’ zooms to $144m global box office debut; ‘M3GAN 2.0’ disappoints with $17m | News

Worldwide box office: June 27-29

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.  

Apple delivers biggest ever opening with ‘F1’

Apple Original Films is well on track to deliver its biggest ever box office hit with an estimated $144.0m global launch for F1 (aka F1: The Movie), released with distribution partner Warner Bros. That number splits: $55.6m in North America and $88.4m for 78 international markets.

Previous aspiring blockbusters from Apple have included Ridley Scott’s Napoleon ($221.4m lifetime worldwide according to available data) and Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon ($158.8m).

The global popularity of Formula One motorsport is helping F1 reach audiences across multiple regions including the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. The film was the top US title at the weekend in 74 of its 78 international markets.

UK/Ireland (an estimated $9.2m) led the international pack, just ahead of China ($9.0m). Next come Mexico ($6.7m), France ($5,4m), Australia ($5.0m), South Korea ($3.7m), Germany ($3.4m), Japan ($2.8m) and India ($2.8m). United Arab Emirates, where the film climaxes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, comes next with an estimated $2.7m, ahead of both Italy ($2.4m) and Spain ($2.3m).

Premium formats are a natural fit for F1, and Warner Bros reported an estimated $27.7m global haul for the film on Imax – 19% of the total. In China, $3.8m from the Imax network represents 43% of the territory’s opening number.

Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon star in the motor racing drama, directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick).

Previous outcomes for films within the motorsport genre include James Mangold’s Ford V Ferrari (aka Le Mans ’66), with a lifetime of $226.3m worldwide in 2019, and Ron Howard’s Rush, with $97.0m in 2013.

‘M3GAN 2.0’ debut falls tiny of first film

Lightning has failed to strike twice with the worldwide opening of Universal/Blumhouse’s M3GAN 2.0, beginning with a disappointing estimated $17.2m – comprising $10.2m in North America and $7.0m across 80 international markets.

That compares with a $40.2m number for original film M3GAN’s first weekend of wide play in January 2023 – and in substantially fewer international territories at that stage. M3GAN went on to achieve an $180.1m worldwide total, according to available data.

Mexico, with an estimated $1.2m, is the only international territory to gross $1m with M3GAN 2.0 at the weekend. Next come UK/Ireland ($689,000), Brazil ($370,000), France ($311,000) and Australia ($282,000).

The sequel sees original director Gerard Johnstone return, also earning screenplay credit this time (from a story by him and M3GAN scribe Akela Cooper).

In a play inspired by The Terminator sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this time around the titular artificially knowledgeable child’s companion must play saviour to mankind, after the original AI technology is used to create android weapon AMELIA, who goes rogue.

’28 Years Later’ rages past $100m

Sony’s 28 Years Later is the first in the viral-infection horror franchise to reach $100m at the worldwide box office – a feat it has achieved after two weekends of play.

The film – sequel to 28 Days Later (2002) and 28 Weeks Later (2007) – grossed an estimated $23.4m at the weekend, comprising $9.7m in North America and $13.7m across 63 international markets. Total so far is $103.1m.

Top international territory remains UK/Ireland, which is the home market, given both the film’s setting (the north-east of England), and the nationality of principal creatives (including director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland) and cast. UK/Ireland added an estimated $3.3m at the weekend, dropping 38%, bringing the total after 11 days to $13.m (25% of the $52.7m international total).

Overall, international markets dropped by 49%, while North America fell 68%. Horror films, and especially horror sequels, usually see relatively steep drops – so these weekend-to-weekend declines are not unusual.

With previous instalments, 28 Days Later reached $74.9m globally, and 28 Weeks Later a similar $72.3m. 

‘How To Train Your Dragon’ soars to $450m

Universal/DreamWorks’ live-action remake How To Train Your Dragon continues its robust box office streak, adding another estimated $52.1m at the weekend, and reaching a worldwide total of $454.4m.

The film is now the fourth-biggest film of 2025 from a US studio, behind Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

In cumulative totals, China ($31.1m) has now overtaken Mexico ($30.0m) to become the top international market, ahead of UK/Ireland ($21.8m) and Brazil ($15.0m). South Korea, Spain, Australia and France are all pretty much neck-and-neck with totals between $11.2m and $11.4m. It is yet to release is Japan, where the film lands on September 5.

How To Train Your Dragon is chasing the $622m worldwide total achieved by 2014’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 – the franchise’s top number. (This comparison is not adjusted for inflation.)

It will soon overtake the $495m lifetime total achieved globally by 2010’s animated How To Train Your Dragon, and then will overhaul the $540m reached by 2019’s How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

How To Train Your Dragon faces competition for the family audience from both Disney/Pixar’s Elio and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. The former added an estimated $22.1m at the weekend, taking the worldwide total after two weekends to $72.3m. Elio dropped 49% in North America and a more encouraging 38% across international markets. Elio will need robust legs to follow the trajectory of fellow Pixar original story Elemental, which in 2023 followed a cushioned launch with a heroic sustain, eventually reaching $496.4m.

Lilo & Stitch dropped just 29% in North America at the weekend, and 36% across international markets. The $946m global total is way ahead of the $274.7m grossed by the original animated version of Lilo & Stitch in 2002. A live-action sequel to Lilo & Stitch is now in development at Disney.

‘Detective Conan’ film scores in China

Japanese anime Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback – the 28^th film in the Case Closed series, and sequel to 2024’s Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram – has landed in China, topping the box office at the weekend.

Local data gatherer Artisan Gateway measures the film’s China box office at $21.3m from three days. Comscore has $23.2m across three markets for the title, and a $124.0m total including the Japan release, which began in April.

Not making it to Comscore’s worldwide box office top 10 is Universal’s Spanish hit Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 5 (aka Father There Is Only One 5), which has opened with an estimated four-day $2.9m. The film is the fifth chapter in the comedy franchise, which has grossed over $65m at the Spanish box office. Santiago Segura directs and stars as a father facing a full nest where none of the children want to leave home.