“‘F1’ is going to be Apple’s biggest release at the box office by far,” says David A. Gross, who runs the FranchiseRe movie consulting firm. “This film looks like the successful business model Apple has envisioned and wanted to execute for several years.”

F1 made an estimated $55.6 million in North America in its opening weekend and racked in $144 million worldwide, the Associated Press reported. With these figures, the Pitt-led sports drama became Apple’s biggest opening to date — and the Oscar winner, 61, was a huge part of that, according to a Warner Bros. executive.

Apple Original Films' F1 has raced to a $144M global launch, including $88.4M from 78 international box office markets. The starts for the Brad Pitt-starrer are higher than projected coming into the weekend,