Watching a race at home is convenient. It is not epic. Apple’s deal to put live Formula 1 in IMAX theaters acknowledges something streaming services already know: attention is the problem, not just distribution. Big sports still sell spectacle, and if you can’t make people care about a TV window, make them pay to sit in the room where the image actually feels big.
What Apple and IMAX are doing
Apple will screen five Formula 1 races from the 2026 season live at select IMAX theaters in the US: the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7, the British Grand Prix on July 5, the Italian Grand Prix on September 6 and the United States Grand Prix on October 25.
The move follows Apple’s announcement last fall that it had secured a five-year deal for US broadcast rights to Formula 1 and that it would launch a dedicated channel for the sport inside the Apple TV app ahead of the season. Apple also holds the rights to a feature film about the racing league that grossed $630 million at the global box office, including some IMAX screenings.
Why cinemas?
Theater chains have been looking for ways to sell seats that aren’t tied to Hollywood release windows for years. Live cultural events – from opera to concert simulcasts – proved there’s a market for paying to experience something communal and larger than a living-room stream. The Met Opera Live in HD program, for example, has run for nearly two decades and helped normalize the idea.
Streaming platforms, for their part, have treated live sports as one of the few surefire ways to drive subscriptions. Amazon’s use of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football to draw Prime viewers is the clearest recent example. Apple is trying a hybrid experiment: own the home feed while also selling occasional out-of-home premiums that carry marketing value and PR splash.
Who stands to win – and who probably won’t
Winners: Apple gets a marketing event and a prestige play. IMAX gets premium programming that fills auditoriums on otherwise quiet nights. Fans who like spectacle – and can afford it – get an experience closer to being at the track without air travel. Formula 1 benefits from added exposure and the ”bigger than TV” presentation.
Losers: traditional ad-driven broadcasters lose eyeballs and the cultural monopoly on where big live events happen. Casual fans unable or unwilling to pay for an IMAX ticket get no new benefit. And if these screenings are rare one-offs, the move becomes promotional theater more than a new distribution model.
What this move leaves unsaid
Apple’s IMAX screenings are limited to five races in one country. That’s more PR than platform shift. The company’s larger play – the five-year US rights and a dedicated Apple TV channel – matters more for how Americans will watch every other race. The IMAX screenings are a way to decorate that subscription with an experiential halo.
We also don’t know how sustainable this is. Will IMAX pay Apple for rights in future years, or will Apple offer select races as loss-leading events? Will ticket prices be accessible, or will this live event be a boutique perk for wealthier fans? Those answers will determine whether this becomes a recurring revenue stream or a marketing stunt.
What happens next
Expect more experiments. If Apple’s IMAX nights sell and generate subscriptions or buzz, other streamers and rights holders will test premium out-of-home presentations: stadium-style audio, curated pre- and post-race content, Q&As, branded activations. If attendance is modest, the model will stay small and promotional.
Either way, the deal is a reminder that rights owners are still inventing ways to extract value from live sports beyond ad slots and household streams. For fans, it means more choices – and, predictably, more ways to spend money to feel like you’re at the center of the action.
Small, scarce, communal experiences are becoming the premium that streaming can’t manufacture alone. Putting Formula 1 in IMAX isn’t about replacing the track; it’s about selling the next-best thing.