I think the biggest opening for a live-action racing movie, prior to this week, was the $47 million that Will Ferrell's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby opened to in 2006. After adjusting for inflation, that would presumably be bigger than F1's opening weekend.
Interestingly, Talladega came out the same year as Pixar's Cars (which opened even bigger, at $60.1 million), and it came out one year after Herbie Fully Loaded and two years before Speed Racer -- so car-racing movies were a big deal in the mid-'00s, for some reason.
I think the less you know about F1, the better the movie is, honestly. Same as Drive to Survive, it's an entry point into the sport rather than something for hardcore fans.
I think the biggest opening for a live-action racing movie, prior to this week, was the $47 million that Will Ferrell's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby opened to in 2006. After adjusting for inflation, that would presumably be bigger than F1's opening weekend.
Interestingly, Talladega came out the same year as Pixar's Cars (which opened even bigger, at $60.1 million), and it came out one year after Herbie Fully Loaded and two years before Speed Racer -- so car-racing movies were a big deal in the mid-'00s, for some reason.
I think the less you know about F1, the better the movie is, honestly. Same as Drive to Survive, it's an entry point into the sport rather than something for hardcore fans.