Tom Cruise will be racing back into theaters in 2028 when the sequel to “Days of Thunder” premieres on June 2. Cruise will revive his Cole Trickle character and be joined by Anne Hathaway in the Jonathan Levine-directed film.
The original 1990 blockbuster was a huge hit, but has since been surpassed at the box office by a long list of motorsports-themed films. We’ve rounded up the top 10, but note we’ve left out the “Fast and Furious” franchise films, along with “Need for Speed” and “The Cannonball Run.”
1. F1 — $634 million (2025)
Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a washed-up former F1 driver brought back to mentor a young teammate at a struggling fictional team. Director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer shot much of it on real circuits during actual 2023–24 grand prix weekends, with Lewis Hamilton attached as a producer and consultant on the racing footage. It’s now the highest-grossing live-action circuit-racing film ever made and Apple’s biggest theatrical release to date, topping the previous benchmark set by “Ford v Ferrari.”
2. Cars 2 — $560 million (2011)
Lightning McQueen and Mater leave Radiator Springs for a globe-trotting spy plot built around the World Grand Prix, an alternative-fuel racing series. It’s the highest-grossing entry in the Cars trilogy and, until “F1” opened in 2025, held the record as the top-grossing racing movie of any kind worldwide.
3. Cars — $462 million (2006)
The original Pixar film follows Lightning McQueen, a cocky rookie stock car who gets stranded in the small town of Radiator Springs on his way to a championship race. It’s the top-grossing racing film domestically and the one that turned Pixar’s talking-cars concept into a franchise that’s about to include “Cars 4.”
4. Pegasus 2 — $423 million (2024)
The sequel to China’s surprise rally-racing hit follows a washed-up former champion turned driving instructor who gets pulled back into competitive rally racing. Its box office came almost entirely from the domestic Chinese market.
5. Cars 3 — $384 million (2017)
An aging Lightning McQueen is pushed toward retirement by a new generation of high-tech racers and responds by training under a gritty mentor while taking on a young protégé of his own. It pulled in less overseas than “Cars 2” but still performed as a solid family box-office draw.
6. Turbo — $283 million (2013)
DreamWorks Animation’s entry follows a garden snail who dreams of racing in the Indianapolis 500 after a freak accident gives him superhuman speed. It’s an original underdog sports-comedy concept rather than an adaptation or sequel, and its worldwide total is strong for a one-off animated racing film with no built-in franchise behind it.
7. Pegasus — $256 million (2019)
The first film in the Chinese rally-comedy franchise, about a former racing champion trying to reclaim his career and reputation through competitive rally driving. Its box office run demonstrated that rally racing, a niche subject in Western film, could draw a massive audience in the right market.
8. Ford v Ferrari — $226 million (2019)
James Mangold’s dramatization of Ford’s push to beat Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, starring Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles. It held the record for highest-grossing serious (non-comedy, non-animated) live-action motorsport film until “F1” passed it in 2025, and remains a reference point for prestige racing dramas.
9. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby — $163 million (2006)
Will Ferrell stars as fictional NASCAR champion Ricky Bobby in this Adam McKay comedy, playing the sport’s culture for laughs rather than drama. It did comparatively little business overseas but was a strong domestic performer, and it’s still the highest-grossing live-action stock-car comedy made.
10. Days of Thunder — $158 million (1990)
Tom Cruise plays NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in this Tony Scott film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer with a Hans Zimmer score. Often described as the stock-car answer to Top Gun given the overlapping creative team, it’s still the film most people point to as the defining Hollywood NASCAR movie more than three decades after its release.
