'The First Purge' Box Office: Gerard McMurray's film opens big with $9.3 million on Independence Day
Gerard McMurray's 'The First Purge' raked in a roaring figure - $9.3 million - on its opening day. The dystopian horror movie had a worldwide release on July 4 - American Independence Day - to get a good jump ahead of Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' which releases on July 6.
Considering that fourth of July hasn't been exactly the best time for movie releases, it was a good day for 'The First Purge' whose preview grosses include $2.5 million, since Tuesday; although it is the smallest preview and opening day gross in the four-film franchise's history. The fourth installment in the horror franchise is looking forward to a $25-$30 million earning by Sunday, but the amount it earned on the first day set good indications; suggesting that the movie will manage to keep its box office earnings on the higher range of that scale.
In 2013, 'The Purge' made almost 14.9% of its total $16.775 million on Friday, the opening day gross through its Thursday previews while 'The Purge: Anarchy' earned 20% of its $13 million on the opening day from the Thursday previews in July 2014. The third installment, 'The Purge: Election Year,' made 25% of its $14.5 million on the opening day, through its Thursday previews.
The percentage earned from the previews has gone up this time to 26.8%. There's no denying that earning $2.5 million which goes on to contribute to the opening day amount of $9.3 million is pretty much in sync with the 'Purge' legacy. After all, 'The Purge: Election Year' made a whopping $36 million Friday-Monday debut over the July 4th holiday in 2016, and then went on to earn a franchise-high $79 million. But, this time the sequel will face some tough competition against Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp'.
Forbes states that going for a Wednesday opening was pretty much about the irresistible notion of dropping the prequel on the Independence Day and getting free media attention instead of actually working on boosting film's opening day. Due to this reason 'The First Purge' earning only $55 million domestic could actually still be a solid win at the box office. The movie now stands at third position after Universal's 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' ($11.6 million), and Disney's 'Incredibles 2' ($9.7 million).
'Jurassic World' gradually makes its way to the $300 million domestic mark, whereas, 'Incredibles 2' has set the box office rolling with $468 million collection. Sony's sixth day of 'Sicario: Day of the Soldado' came in fourth on the 4th with a $2.6 million to raise its total to $26.3 million.
'The First Purge' is set in a deranged dystopian America where the New Founding Fathers of the country make crime legal for 12 hours resulting in excessive violence and exploitation across the country. Starring Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Jovian Wade, Luna Lauren Velez, and Marisa Tomei, the prequel is written and produced by James DeMonaco (the director of the three 'Purge' movies).
The first film in the series, 'The Purge,' was released in 2013 followed by 'The Purge: Anarchy' in 2014 and 'The Purge: Election Year' in 2016, which reportedly wound up with $79 million domestically and $118.5 million worldwide.