The upcoming animated family film "The Secret Life of Pets" is expecting to land No. 1 in the country's box office and it will open in summer when kids are out of school. Based on the lives of pets when left alone at home, Universal's film will be shown at about 4,300 theaters in North America on July 8, Friday. Prior to that, it will be in 3D previews at 6pm on July 7, Thursday.
With tracking sees its opening to be around $80 to $90 million, "Finding Dory" could swim away next weekend with $25 to $30 million, according to Deadline. "Zootopia," Disney's original fare, opened $75 million in March before it got a billion.
The upcoming film about pets is expected to be above Illumination's "Despicable Me" which had $56.39 million on its opening in July 2010. In the same year, "Toy Story 3" dropped about 31 percent in its fourth weekend. Hence, "Finding Dory" could have $28 million next weekend.
"The Secret Life of Pets" targets millennials, and will find its core audience, who have been underserved this summer. It grossed $31 million in six markets overseas, already at No. 2 in this year's animated grosser in the United Kingdom, according to Variety.
NBC Universal has promoted the film for a year in a great marketing campaign and cross promotions. The film's trailer was released ahead of "Minions" last year, and surpassed all the films when it comes to trailer targets. It is among the biggest original animated film in recent memory.
Chrysler is promoting for Illumination-Universal's animation film, also targeting pet owners via customized marketing materials at Petsmart through the National Pet Day on the social networking, Facebook. The PetMoji app was created for pet owners to make cartoon characters out of their pets.
Another opening this weekend is comedy film "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" from Fox. It stars Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick and Adam DeVine. Efron's film could open about $15 million as it previews at 7 pm on July 7, Thursday. Efron's average gross on weekends is $25.3 million.
The following video plays the trailer of Illumination-Universal's family movie.