The creators of the forthcoming 2025 film titled 'F1', featuring Brad Pitt, have rebutted claims that the movie's budget has soared to a staggering $300 million.
Should these figures be accurate, it would rank the movie among the top ten priciest film productions ever, considering it was shot during Formula 1 races using altered F2 cars for authenticity.
For perspective, the production cost of "The Last Jedi" was $300 million, whereas "Titanic" was made with $200 million in 1997.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer acknowledges that the Hollywood strike and subsequent delays last year did increase production expenses, but he asserts that the rumored $300 million budget is substantially inflated.
"It's tens of millions of dollars out of whack in the wrong direction, and in the right direction for us," he reported to Deadline.
"Plus, we've raised more money for our (filming) car than some Formula 1 teams," Bruckheimer continued, highlighting on-car livery sponsorships from brands like Expensify, Tommy Hilfiger associated with Lewis Hamilton, IWC, and others.
"You take that all into consideration and it really drops that number quite a bit lower than what people would think."
Yet, he declined to disclose the exact cost of the movie.
"We can't give you a number because that's Apple's money and they can talk about it," Bruckheimer explained. "But what I think you can say is it's quite a bit lower than what's been reported."
Director Joseph Kosinski echoed these sentiments: "I'm just going to say I'm used to having a lot of the movies I've worked on over-reported for whatever reason. But I've never had an experience where they were off by this much on a film. I'm not sure where that number came from."
