Record Wide Opening for ‘Despicable Me 3’ to Kick Off July Box Office

Universal is releasing the Illumination threequel in a record 4,529 screens, while TriStar is looking to earn "Baby Driver" cult movie status

Though the studio had a domestic stumble earlier this month with “The Mummy” — the blockbuster has only grossed $68.7 million in the States through three weekends — that film, combined with “The Fate of the Furious,” helped push Universal’s annual overseas gross past the $2 billion mark and past the $3 billion mark globally at a studio-record pace.

Sony Pictures and TriStar will be aiming for audiences looking for a break from franchise titles, with the hopes that the film’s rave reception from its SXSW premiere and its 99 percent RT score can be turned into strong word-of-mouth.

[...] there’s New Line/Village Roadshow’s comedy “The House,” which is tracking for $13-16 million from approximately 3,000 screens, with Warner Bros. projecting a $12 million start.

The film stars Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler as a couple who start an illegal casino to make back the money they lost when they blew their daughter’s college fund.

“Despicable Me 3” stars Steve Carell as series protagonist Gru, who, after losing his position in the Anti-Villain League for failing to capture Hollywood star turned villain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), is tempted to return to villainy by his long-lost brother Dru (also voiced by Carell).