🏁 Apple’s "F1: The Movie" Roared Into Box Office Victory

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Small change to the frequency of the newsletter this Summer. I had switched from M-W-F to T-Th, but then my kids got off from school and I became their full-time Uber driver, so at least for the rest of the Summer I’ll be publishing on Wednesdays.

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In today’s newsletter I discuss how Apple’s "F1: The Movie" roared into box office victory over the weekend, consumer confidence is declining, the TikTok ban gets extended for a 3rd time, NASA will stream launches on Netflix, there’s a TON going on in the world of crypto, and NBA superstar Kevin Durant has purchased a minority stake in the Paris Saint-Germain football team.

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The Business Behind The News

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🏁 Apple’s "F1: The Movie" Roared Into Box Office Victory

The new "F1: The Movie" roared into theaters last weekend, lapped the competition, and took home the checkered flag. This was a big win for both Apple and Formula 1, and bad news for the rest of the film industry’s Summer tentpole movies.

"F1: The Movie" brought in an insane $55.6 million dollars in North American theaters, and a staggering $144 million dollars globally over its opening weekend, marking Apple's biggest theatrical opening to date. This success underscores the growing appeal of Formula 1 and Apple's strategic entry into large-scale cinematic productions.

The journey to bring "F1: The Movie" to the big screen was a lengthy and ambitious undertaking. Filming spanned across the 2023 and 2024 Formula 1 seasons, with lead actors Brad Pitt and Damson Idris on hand during actual Grand Prix race weekends over those two years. They drove modified Formula 2 cars, disguised as the fictional APXGP machines, on real tracks including the Las Vegas Grand Prix alongside the actual Formula 1 grid during practice sessions and even formation laps. And they weren’t just acting; Brad Pitt actually drove Formula 1 race cars at close to 200 MPH during the filming of the movie. See, Tom Cruise isn’t the only actor doing his own stunts in Hollywood these days. This commitment to authenticity, with cameras mounted inside cockpits and production crews working within tight 5 to 15-minute windows between real sessions, captured the raw adrenaline and intensity of Formula 1.

The production of "F1: The Movie" came with a hefty price tag. Initial reports suggested a budget of between $200-$300 million dollars due to extensive reshoots. On top of that, Apple reportedly invested at least $125 million dollars in worldwide marketing for the film. Despite the significant investment, the $144 million dollar global opening weekend is a strong start, though the movie still needs substantial continued viewership in order to turn a profit given its high costs.

Formula 1 itself is a massive and lucrative industry. In 2024, Formula 1 generated a record $3.65 billion dollars in revenue, which is a testament to its expanding global footprint and increasing popularity thanks in large part to Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive. The sport's primary revenue streams include media rights fees, race promotion revenue, and sponsorship fees.

For the 2025 season, major lead sponsors include luxury conglomerate LVMH, which has a 10-year agreement worth over $1 billion dollars, with annual sponsorship fees topping $100 million dollars. Other significant partners include technology leader Salesforce and energy giant Aramco. New deals for 2025 also include Atlassian as the exclusive title sponsor for the Williams Racing Formula 1 Team, and Santander Bank following Carlos Sainz Jr. to Williams.

The financial rewards for the elite drivers in Formula 1 are equally staggering. At the top you have Max Verstappen, from Red Bull, making $75 million dollars a year, then in second place you have Lewis Hamilton, with Ferrari, bring home $57 million dollars a year, and in third place Lando Norris, on the McLaren team, raking in $35 million dollars a year. At the bottom of the list are a handful of rookies new to the Formula 1 grid, including Oliver Bearman of Haas, Isack Hadjar of the Racing Bulls, the sister team of Redbull, and Franco Colapinto from Alpine each making the rookie minimum of between $500,000–$1 million dollars a year.

Here's a look at the estimated annual salaries for F1 drivers in 2025, from the highest to the lowest paid:

1) Max Verstappen (Red Bull): $75 million dollars
2) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): $57 million dollars
3) Lando Norris (McLaren): $35 million dollars
4) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin): $27.5 million dollars
5) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): $27 million dollars
6) Oscar Piastri (McLaren): $25.9 million dollars
7) George Russell (Mercedes): $23 million dollars
8) Carlos Sainz (Williams): $19 million dollars
9) Pierre Gasly (Alpine): $12 million dollars
10) Esteban Ocon (Haas): $6 million dollars
11) Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber): $5 million dollars
12) Alex Albon (Williams): $3 million dollars
13) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin): $3 million dollars
14) Liam Lawson (Red Bull): $3 million dollars
15) Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls): $3 million dollars
16) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): $2 million dollars
17) Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber): $2 million dollars
18) Oliver Bearman (Haas): $1 million dollars
19) Jack Doohan (Alpine): $500,000 dollars – $1 million dollars
20) Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls): $500,000 dollars – $1 million dollars
21) Franco Colapinto (Alpine): $500,000 dollars – $1 million dollars

There’s no question that the "F1: The Movie" has been a huge success for both Apple and the sport of Formula 1. For Apple, the film's impressive $144 million dollars global opening weekend marks its biggest theatrical hit to date, proving the tech giant's ability to compete in the high-stakes world of blockbuster movies. For Formula 1, the movie is the biggest and boldest form of marketing for the sport, and will only fuel Formula 1’s global expansion and bring in a new generation of fans. With this authentic, high paced movie, with plenty of behind-the-scenes access, you can expect a lot more sports films in the future from major studios, with steamers including Apple continuing to lead the way.

💵 Business

American consumer confidence declined in June, with The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index dropping 5.4 points to 93.0 from 98.4 in May. This downturn was observed across all political affiliations, notably with the largest decrease among Republicans. According to Gallup's June 2025 data, Nothing unites people quite like a shared gloomy economic outlook.

📺 Entertainment

NASA plans to stream live rocket launches and other space content on Netflix starting this summer, aiming to reach the streaming service's global audience of over 700 million people. Rebecca Sirmons, general manager of NASA+, emphasized that this aligns with the agency's mission to share space exploration broadly, leveraging the space economy's $131.8 billion dollar impact on U.S. GDP.

📱 Social Media

President Donald Trump announced that he has secured a buyer for TikTok's U.S. operations, stating he will reveal the "very wealthy people" behind the purchase in "about two weeks." The popular app's U.S. business is reportedly valued from $20 billion dollars to as high as $150 billion dollars. Clearly, keeping TikTok in the U.S. is as straightforward as finding some spare change in the couch cushions of billionaires.

🪙 Crypto

Lots going on in the world of crypto, so I figured ya’ll could handle drinking from the firehouse on this topic today.

Wall Street strategist Tom Lee is now chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, which plans a $250 million dollars private placement to accumulate Ethereum, aiming to become the "MicroStrategy of Ethereum." The company will make Ether its main treasury reserve asset, tracking the amount of ether held per share. With BitMine Immersion Technologies' stock soaring and Ethereum currently around $2,459 dollars per token. It seems like everyone wants to be the next crypto mogul, because what could possibly go wrong with another highly volatile asset on the balance sheet?

Robinhood has announced that it is offering tokenized shares of private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX to its European Union customers, causing its stock to soar by nearly 10% to an all-time high of around $92 dollars, with a market capitalization of approximately $36.85 billion dollars. This move is part of Robinhood's broader strategy to expand its global crypto footprint and enable 24/7 trading.

Circle, owner of USDC, has applied to for a national trust bank charter, in order to become a bank, which would be called First National Digital Currency Bank. This move follows Circle's successful June IPO, which saw its value rise north of $18 billion dollars and its market capitalization now exceeding $40.3 billion dollars, with its USDC stablecoin boasting a $61.5 billion dollars market cap. Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO Jeremy Allaire stated this strengthens their USDC infrastructure; because nothing says "cutting-edge digital finance" like applying for an old stodgy traditional bank charter.

Pro-XRP attorney John E. Deaton predicts a Ripple initial public offering (IPO) could reach a $100 billion dollars valuation, citing Ripple's strong financial position with $3.7 billion dollars in cash and 41 billion XRP. This potential record-breaking crypto-native equity listing would surpass Coinbase's $86 billion dollars direct listing. Who needs a rush when you're sitting on a potential $100 billion dollars, right?

Blockchain investing startup Republic is now allowing users to purchase "tokenized" SpaceX shares, making previously inaccessible private investments available to retail investors globally for as little as $50 dollars. These "Mirror Tokens" track SpaceX's performance, which was valued at $350 billion dollars as of December 2024 and is projected to generate $16 billion dollars in revenue in 2025. Republic's co-founder and CEO, Kendrick Nguyen, is leading this initiative, providing an opportunity for everyday individuals to indirectly invest in companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX, because who needs actual ownership when you can have a "mirror" image in the form of a crypto currency token?

⚽ Sports

NBA superstar Kevin Durant has purchased a minority stake in the Paris Saint-Germain football team (that’s soccer to you and me) through his firm, Boardroom, which he co-founded with Rich Kleiman. While the specific financial terms of this new direct investment remain undisclosed, previous reports indicated his earlier stake was in the single-digit millions of dollars. As part of this strategic partnership, Kevin Durant will also advise on Paris Saint-Germain's multi-sport strategy, including potential basketball expansion plans, notably as the NBA explores a European league where franchises in cities like Paris could sell for over $500 million dollars.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.