Two Racing Franchises Revving Up
Hollywood's appetite for high-octane motorsport cinema shows no signs of slowing down. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed in a BBC interview this week that sequels to both Days of Thunder and F1 are under active development, setting up an unusual race between two franchises vying for box office supremacy.
The original F1, which starred Brad Pitt and was co-produced by seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, proved a massive hit last summer. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the filmmaker behind Top Gun: Maverick, the film earned four Oscar nominations and grossed $630 million worldwide, making it Apple Original Films' most successful theatrical release to date. Its commercial and critical performance made a follow-up all but inevitable.
Cruise and the NASCAR Legacy
On the NASCAR side, Bruckheimer has been in discussions with Tom Cruise about revisiting the 1990 original. While Days of Thunder didn't make a massive splash upon release, it has since earned its place in the racing movie canon, becoming a touchstone for fans of stock car cinema. Bruckheimer hinted that development on the sequel could have an eight-month head start over its F1 counterpart, putting the NASCAR project in pole position for now.
"There's always new technologies, new ways to do things, to see things," Bruckheimer said of the project. "And Tom is such a great individual to come up with phenomenal ideas. So we'll have something really exciting for an audience once we pull it together."
Age and Authenticity Questions
Both sequels face questions about their aging leads. Brad Pitt was 62 during the original F1 shoot, and his portrayal of driver Sonny Hayes was already considered one of the film's more implausible elements. Cruise returning to NASCAR, however, may be somewhat more believable given that older drivers have a longer history in stock car racing, and Cruise already proved the nostalgia-sequel formula works brilliantly with Top Gun: Maverick.
New Technology Could Change Everything
Perhaps the most exciting prospect is the technology developed for the first F1 film. Kosinski's team created innovative camera rigs capable of capturing authentic cockpit footage at racing speeds, producing some of the most visceral motorsport sequences ever filmed. Applying that same technology to the oval tracks and close-quarters pack racing of NASCAR could produce something entirely unprecedented in the genre.
Whether these sequels ultimately cross the finish line or stall in development remains to be seen, but with Bruckheimer producing both and proven box office formulas behind each, motorsport fans have plenty of reason to pay attention.
This article is based on reporting by The Drive. Read the original article.
