Jerry Bruckheimer Just Gave ‘F1’ Fans Their Strongest Sequel Hint Yet

Brad Pitt’s racing drama became one of the biggest theatrical surprises of last year, and the buzz around a follow up has only grown louder since. ‘F1: The Movie’ turned into a global phenomenon for Apple, and now the people behind it are signaling that round two might actually be coming together.

The film, which follows Pitt as a retired driver pulled back into the Formula 1 circuit, ended up being the actor’s biggest movie of all time at the worldwide box office, pulling in 634 million dollars globally. That kind of number tends to get studios talking, and Apple and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have clearly been talking.

Speaking at Cannes Lions, Bruckheimer addressed the future of the franchise directly, saying there is no official greenlight yet but that things sound like they are moving forward soon enough. He told the crowd, “I’m really excited because we’re going to come back and hopefully make another ‘F1.'” Apple’s Eddy Cue echoed that sentiment on stage, reinforcing that a follow up is very much the plan rather than just a passing comment.

Cue, who oversees Apple’s entertainment and services business, was at the festival to accept the Entertainment Person of the Year award, and he used the moment to dig into why ‘F1’ worked in the first place. He said everyone seems to want another one, calling the original a great story that left people feeling good whether they caught it in theaters or at home, a sentiment he shared during the Cannes Lions conversation with Bruckheimer.

Bruckheimer also opened up about how the film found its home with Apple in the first place. The project was pitched to nine different exhibitors and studios before Apple offered what he called the most creative theatrical plan, keeping the movie in cinemas for an initial 45 day window. That window ended up stretching even further once audiences kept showing up, which both Cue and Bruckheimer pointed to as proof the strategy paid off.

Beyond the racing drama, Bruckheimer used the stage time to tease another Apple project, a UFO thriller reuniting him with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ director Joseph Kosinski. He described it as something in the vein of ‘All the President’s Men,’ focused on what the government has allegedly hidden about unidentified anomalous phenomena over the years. It is a notably different tone from the high speed world of ‘F1,’ but it shows just how active the Bruckheimer and Apple partnership has become.

For fans who spent the last year hoping Pitt would strap back into the cockpit, this is about as close to confirmation as it gets without an actual greenlight. Apple clearly has the financial incentive, the critical goodwill, and now two of its key players publicly rooting for a return trip to the track.

There is still no official word on a script, a director, or a timeline, but the appetite from both the studio and the audience side seems obvious at this point. Would you want to see Pitt’s character back behind the wheel for a full sequel, or does ‘F1’ work best as a standalone story?