For years it was the Saw franchise that was running the horror game in Hollywood. Then it was all about Paranormal Activity, which has spent years pumping out sequels and continues to do so. The big brand in the genre these days, however, is The Purge, and the series is continuing to grow with new installments.
Deadline has confirmed that there is a The Purge 3 currently in development at Universal Pictures, Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes and that writer/director James DeMonaco has been brought back to pen the screenplay and possibly direct. At this point there is no set release date yet, but it's not too hard to believe that the next sequel could come out in 2015 given that The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy came out only a little over a year apart. Confirming the news, DeMonaco said in a statement,
“I never imagined that The Purge would become the phenomenon it has become, and I am thrilled to continue my collaboration with Blumhouse, Sebastien Lemercier, Platinum Dunes and the great team at Universal in building The Purge into a worldwide franchise.”
For those unfamiliar with the basic premise, the movies are set in a future world where for one night a year all crime is made legal. The original movie was done more as a home invasion thriller, while its first sequel brought audiences down to street level to experience the chaos unfold. There is an interesting social commentary present in the movies, as it is pretty clear that the upper class simply uses The Purge as a means of letting lower class citizens murder each other while they stay safe in their comfortable armored homes.
With The Purge 3 now a thing, one has to wonder exactly how DeMonaco will be shaping the story. There is the possibility that we could see the return of Frank Grillo as Sergeant, and Michael K. Williams told us that the franchise is setting stuff up for the expansion of his character, the rebellious Carmelo Johns. As I mentioned in my review of The Purge: Anarchy, what I would really love to see is an anthology film set in the world of The Purge, with the sequel telling us all kinds of different crazy stories set in all kinds of crazy locations all set during the same night.
From a financial standpoints, it's not hard to see why The Purge 3 got the green light. In addition to getting better reviews than its predecessor, The Purge: Anarchy made a grand total of $108 million worldwide, which was way more than enough to beat out its predecessor's $89 million total. This is actually rather impressive when you consider the fact that the summer of 2013 was much more active than 2014, and that The Purge: Anarchy's opening weekend total domestically ($29 million) was actually lower than the first movie's ($34 million). There is a lot of money to be made here, especially if the quality of the finished product can keep getting better.
