Edgar Wright's 'Baby Driver' Moves Up Nearly Two Months to June

By Alex Stedman, Variety

Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver will hit theaters nearly two months earlier than originally planned, moving to June 28 from Aug. 11.

Sony announced the news at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Monday. The new release date puts Wright’s latest smack dab in the middle of the July 4 frame, going up against Transformers: The Last Knight, Despicable Me 3, Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler’s The House, Amityville: The Awakening, and Sofia Coppola’s Beguiled.

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In its previous August slot, it would have opened against New Line’s Annabelle 2 and Weinstein Co.’s Wind River. It’s a sign of confidence for the action heist film, which garnered major buzz upon debuting at SXSW earlier this month. In his review for Variety, Peter Debruge wrote, “Like all Edgar Wright movies, ‘Baby Driver’ is a blast, featuring wall-to-wall music and a surfeit of inspired ideas.”

Baby Driver stars Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey, and Jon Bernthal, and follows a young, talented getaway driver who relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best. However, a doomed heist threatens his life, love, and freedom after he’s coerced into working for a mob boss. The film sees a 50/50 financing split between MRC and TriStar, with TriStar handling worldwide distribution.

Wright, Elgort, and Hamm were also on hand at the annual gathering to hype up the movie to exhibition industry professionals. Wright told the crowd that he designed the film to be seen “loud and large” on the big screen. Sony’s president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer also showed off the first six minutes of Baby Driver at the event.