Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1

Forty-eight hours before Formula One’s Grand Prix took to the streets of Monaco in late May, Apple Inc. screened its upcoming F1 film for the real-life drivers and team managers competing at the pinnacle of motorsport. It was crucial to Apple’s services boss, Eddy Cue, that the company get it right. Not only is Cue himself a lifelong racing fan who sits on the board of Ferrari NV, but the movie is among Apple’s most expensive pictures to date, with a budget of more than $200 million. Raising the stakes even higher, it marks the tech giant’s return to theaters since dialing back its earlier big-screen ambitions.

To capture the feel of sitting in a cockpit hurtling forward at 233 mph (375 kph), Apple mounted dozens of iPhone cameras on cars zooming through actual F1 events. In fact, the setup produced scenes so dramatic that the company has entered talks with Formula One to permanently affix its miniature lenses onto each car’s fuselage, which would change how the sport is televised to roughly 70 million global viewers per race.