Ferrari was selected to compete for theGolden Lion at the80th Venice International Film Festival, premiering on August 31, 2023. The film was originally set to premiere on the streaming serviceShowtime,[8] but it was eventually released in the United States theatrically on December 25, 2023, byNeon. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by theNational Board of Review.[9] The filmunderperformed at the box office, grossing only $43 million worldwide against a $95 million budget.
In the summer of 1957, Italian automotive entrepreneurEnzo Ferrari prepares hisracing team for theMille Miglia, an open-road, endurance-based race lasting 1,000 miles. Grappling with both domestic and professional crises, Enzo and his estranged wife, Laura, grieve for their only son,Dino, who died a year prior. While he has kept Laura from learning of his infidelities, Enzo's mistress, Lina Lardi, pressures him to grant their illegitimate son,Piero, the Ferrari name as hisconfirmation nears.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's manufacturing company is in terrible financial shape after the groundbreaking development of the team'sFormula One car. It needs to make a deal quickly with one of its competitors to survive. However, Laura owns half of the company's shares, and Enzo needs full control to seal a deal.
In exchange forpower of attorney over her shares, a resentful Laura demands a check forUS$500,000, which will bankrupt the company if she cashes it. She confirms her suspicions that Enzo has been having an affair after discovering that Lina and Piero live in the countryside outsideModena. He agrees to write the check and trusts Laura to wait to cash it.
As the Mille Miglia commences inBrescia, Enzo encourages his drivers to remain ahead of the competing drivers. During a pit stop inRome, Enzo's newest addition to the team,Alfonso de Portago, refuses to change tires to stay in the lead.
AtGuidizzolo, de Portago's car's worn left front tire is sliced open by a damagedcat's eye. The ensuing blowout causes the car to flip over and fly out of control, killing de Portago, his navigator, and nine onlookers, including children.
Another of Ferrari's drivers, the veteranPiero Taruffi, completes the round trip to Brescia and wins the race. The news media blames Enzo for de Portago's lethal accident. Laura cashes her check and pushes the company to the brink of insolvency, but gives Enzo the cash to use as bribe money for journalists to salvage his reputation.
Laura also gives Enzo her signed power of attorney, thereby giving him the chance to save his company, but requests that in return, he refrain from giving Piero the Ferrari name until after her death. Enzo agrees and later brings Piero to his half-brother's grave.
Michael Mann first began exploring making the film around 2000, having discussed the project withSydney Pollack. Mann had been developing the script with writerTroy Kennedy Martin, who died in 2009.[13][a] Mann was offered $40 million to make the film, but he refused because he thought that the budget was not enough.[15]
In August 2015,Christian Bale entered negotiations to star as Ferrari. Filming was planned to begin in summer 2016 in Italy. In October 2015,Paramount Pictures bought the worldwide distribution rights for the film.[16][17] Bale exited the film in January 2016 over concerns of meeting the weight requirements for the role before the start of production.[18] The project stalled until April 2017, whenHugh Jackman entered negotiations to portray Ferrari, andNoomi Rapace as his wife with Paramount no longer involved.[19] The project would again go dormant until June 2020. Mann and Jackman were still attached but Rapace was no longer involved, withSTX Entertainment handling international distribution.[20]
STX Entertainment agreed to finance 70% of the budget and also acquire the North American distribution rights.[21][8] The rest of the financing came from the Italian tax credit and private investors.[23] In July,Gabriel Leone,Sarah Gadon,Jack O'Connell andPatrick Dempsey were added to the cast.[24][25] Pre-production began in April 2022, with filming originally set to commence in July inModena.[26][27][24][28][29][30]
The worn cat's eye which the film depicts as causing de Portago's fatal crash was not added in post-production. It was an actual physical prop made out of a rubber-like thermoplastic through a3D printing process byCRP Technologies.[39] Other props like the archaicracing helmets were also created through the same process.[39]
Ferrari had its world premiere at the80th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2023.[40] Initially set for a U.S. theatrical release, the film's main financierSTX Entertainment planned to premiereFerrari onShowtime andParamount+ in the United States instead of theatrically releasing it through their deal withLionsgate,[8] but eventually decided to license the United States distribution rights to another theatrical distributor. OnlyNeon agreed to release the film in the United States theatrically, and Neon paid $15 million to acquire the United States distribution rights.[41] Neon spent $17 million on marketing, expecting the film to make $17.5 million in North America.[41]
Sky Cinema andBlack Bear Pictures released the film in the United Kingdom theatrically on December 26, 2023.[4][42] STX retained other international rights.[43]
Ferrari was released on digital platforms in the United States on January 23, 2024, and on Blu-ray and DVD on March 12, 2024.[44] The film was released in France throughAmazon Prime Video.[45]
Ferrari grossed $18.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $25.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $43.6 million.[6][7]
In the United States and Canada,Ferrari was released alongsideThe Boys in the Boat andThe Color Purple, and was projected to gross around $1 million from 2,330 theaters on its first day.[46] It ended up slightly exceeding expectations, grossing $2.9 million and finishing in 14th.[8] The following weekend the film made $4.1 million, finishing in ninth at the box office and totaling $10.9 million over its first week of release.[47] In the film's second weekend it made $2.5 million, remaining in ninth.[48] Neon stated the film exceeded their expectations of $17.5 million gross at the domestic box office, and labeled the film a success.[41]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 73% of 258 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sleek and well-acted,Ferrari overcomes its occasionally underpowered narrative to deliver a rousing and admirably complex biopic."[49]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 55 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[50] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, whilePostTrak reported 74% filmgoers gave it a positive score.[8]
Marlow Stern ofRolling Stone praised Penélope Cruz's performance, writing: "There is an unstoppable force at the center of Michael Mann'sFerrari. It is fast, fierce, and wildly unpredictable. One moment it has you in the throes of ecstasy; the next, fearing for your life. And when you see it coming around the bend, it's curtains. Don't even bother putting up a fight. You'll lose. I'm talking, of course, about Penélope Cruz."[51]
Damon Wise ofDeadline Hollywood was more critical of Adam Driver's performance, stating: "Given what's at stake [in the film], a strangely unemotional lead performance from Adam Driver makes it hard to warm to this odd and deeply self-absorbed character. Add in the glacial pace of its narrative, and a film expected to take an early awards-season lead will struggle to hold that pole position."[52]
Italian actorPierfrancesco Favino criticized the film for casting American actors to portray Italian characters, instead of Italian actors.[53] The Italian newspaperLa Stampa found that it was a beautiful film but regretted that it only covered a limited part of Ferrari's life,[54] whilePiero Ferrari claimed various elements in the film that did not accurately reflect the facts.[55]
Among mixed reviews, Kevin Nguyen ofThe Verge, wrote that he wanted "to creditFerrari for being a weirder movie than you might expect for a biopic about a guy who builds iconic sports cars. But every swerve feels imprecise, and each detour just takes the film further in an unclear direction."[56]
Tony Lamberti, Bernard Weiser, David Wentz, Brent Findley, Steven Ticknor, Benjamin Cook, Beso Kacharava, Biko Gogaladze, Alexander Sanikidze, Rati Chkhetiani
^A journalist interviewing Kennedy Martin in his office in 1997 noted, "Behind his desk, eight red foolscap document boxes hold different versions of a screenplay for a film about the legendary Italian car-maker Enzo Ferrari, to be made by Michael Mann, director ofHeat. It is currently waiting while Disney, which will produce, tries to tempt a De Niro or a Pacino to take on the title role. It may be a long wait."[14]
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