The Perfect Movie To Watch While Waiting For Top Gun 3 Just Got A Thrilling First Trailer

Summary F1, directed by Joseph Kosinski, stars Brad Pitt as a retired Formula 1 driver who is asked to mentor a new driver, sharing similarities with Top Gun: Maverick.

F1's action-packed trailer showcases the fast-paced racing and groundbreaking filming techniques, making it an exciting watch while waiting for Top Gun 3.

While F1 may share similarities with Top Gun: Maverick, it faces the challenge of establishing itself as a new franchise without the pre-existing fan base and may not match the sequel's billion-dollar success.

The upcoming Brad Pitt movie F1 dropped an exciting new trailer, and the movie makes the wait for Top Gun 3 a little easier. By Top Gun: Maverick’s ending, it was clear that the much-delayed blockbuster sequel was worth the wait. Although 36 years elapsed between Top Gun’s 1986 release date and Top Gun: Maverick’s eventual arrival in 2022, the sequel still somehow managed to more than meet expectations. Top Gun: Maverick fared better with critics than the original movie and, in truly historic box office success, even out earned Top Gun when adjusted for inflation.

Part of Top Gun: Maverick’s success was owed to Tom Cruise’s stellar central performance as well as a strong supporting cast including Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, and Glen Powell. However, Top Gun: Maverick's new and returning characters would have been lost without a solid director at the helm. Top Gun director Tony Scott was a uniquely irreplaceable action auteur, but director Joseph Kosinski did a superb job updating the franchise’s style. As such, the arrival of the first trailer for Kosinski's next movie is exciting for viewers eagerly awaiting news of Top Gun 3's production.

Related I'm Very Concerned About Brad Pitt's New $300 Million Movie Despite Exciting Release Update Despite the recent good news about Brad Fitt’s Formula 1 racing movie, I’m still worried that the film’s budget will sink this very expensive ship.

What Is F1 About? Brad Pitt's Racing Movie Explained

F1 Follows A Veteran Race Driver Yearning For A Final Win

Much like Cruise headlined the director's 2022 movie, blockbuster icon Brad Pitt stars in Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski’s upcoming Formula 1 racing drama F1. Although F1’s kinetic first trailer doesn’t reveal much about the movie’s story, its synopsis does. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a Formula 1 driver whose career is ended by a violent crash. Years later, Javier Bardem’s F1 team owner Ruben calls on Hayes to come out of retirement and mentor his new driver, Damson Idris’s Joshua Pearce. Together, Hayes and Pearce hope to take the Apex Grand Prix team, or APXGP, to the top.

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This underdog story already has a lot in common with Top Gun: Maverick. In both movies, an A-list star from the ‘90s played the grizzled, haunted mentor of an inexperienced but promising rookie. Pitt’s character could borrow from Top Gun: Maverick’s Maverick since the two share both a dark past and a need for speed. However, Pitt’s upcoming Formula 1 movie has some differences. Unlike Top Gun: Maverick, F1 isn’t a sequel. As such, viewers will be meeting Hayes for the first time long after his career has peaked. The movie’s protagonist may be embittered like Pitt’s Moneyball antihero.

The First F1 Trailer Confirms It's Perfect To Watch While Waiting For Top Gun 3

Joseph Kosinski’s New Movie Matches Top Gun: Maverick’s Dynamic Action

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What makes F1 the perfect movie to watch while waiting for Top Gun 3 is their shared interest in propulsive action set pieces. The Top Gun movies and F1 both center around fast-paced action, with aerial dogfights dominating the former franchise, while F1’s first trailer highlights its incredibly fast races. Although the Top Gun movies are technically set in the Navy, they have always been inspirational sports dramas at heart. Both F1 and Top Gun: Maverick are about talented underdogs learning to work as part of a team so they can defeat their competitors.

Like F1, Top Gun: Maverick utilized groundbreaking techniques to bring views closer to the action than ever

While Top Gun 3’s story might be more concerned with the realities of conflict, Top Gun: Maverick is a perfect primer for F1. Like F1, Top Gun: Maverick utilized groundbreaking techniques to bring views closer to the action than ever. Much like a lot of Top Gun: Maverick’s flying scenes were filmed inside actual aircraft, a lot of F1’s breathtaking action is filmed inside real cars. Both of Kosinski’s movies boast a smooth technical sheen that isn’t compromised by the sheer speed at which these sequences take place and the intense risk they involve.

Brad Pitt's F1 Will Struggle To Match Top Gun: Maverick's Success

While F1 might be very similar to Top Gun: Maverick, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the movie can look forward to recreating the sequel’s box office impact. After all, a major portion of Top Gun: Maverick’s success was owed to its status as part of a beloved franchise. While the budget of Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 movie is massive, F1 doesn’t have the same loyal fan base. Kosinski might make this movie the start of a new franchise, but F1 isn’t a known commodity to the movie going public yet.

Pitt’s involvement and the popularity of Formula 1 itself will likely help F1 at the box office. Still, F1 will need to earn a lot of money to make a profit thanks to its $300 million budget. Kosinski’s movie remains unlikely to dethrone Top Gun: Maverick as the director’s biggest hit. F1 earning over $1 billion would be a big surprise, while the movie making more than $1.4 billion would be a huge shock. That said, judging by the action in F1’s first trailer, Brad Pitt’s new movie could end up becoming as hotly anticipated as Top Gun 3.