'Top Gun: Maverick' Director To Team Up With Apple, Brad Pitt For Formula 1 Movie

"Top Gun: Maverick" has been a smashing success at the box office and now the director of the film, Joseph Kosinski, has a new gig: a Formula One movie starring Brad Pitt produced with Apple Inc AAPL. 

A New Model: The project could change how streaming platforms handle theatrical releases, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While it become commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic for studios to release films directly to streaming services, early reports indicate that the Formula One movie will go to theaters for a certain amount of time before heading to the Apple TV+ streaming service. 

Star Power: Lewis Hamilton, the ultra-successful F1 driver, is joining the project as a producer. The project does not have a released title yet. F1 is gathering more attention, especially in the U.S, following a documentary series released by Netflix Inc NFLX called "Drive To Survive." 

Capitalizing on this rise of popularity in the sport, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) talent agency pitched the project around Hollywood in January and was met with immediate interest. But, with the convoluted nature of the deal with theatrical release and streaming components, it’s taken months to get the project off the ground. 

The producers of the film, Chad Oman and Jerry Bruckheimer, are the same producers of "Top Gun: Maverick." The writer of the new "Top Gun," Ehren Kruger, will also be joining the project. It seems as though the only ones not joining the new F1 film from "Top Gun" are the stars of the film, Tom Cruise and Miles Teller. (Pitt and Cruise once starred together in "Interview with a Vampire," which was released in 1994.)

If this model of combining a theatrical and streaming release works out for Apple, look for other companies such as Netflix and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN to follow suit. 

Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency via Shutterstock