Things may be hectic and crazy around the United States right now, but at least we can be thankful that there aren't annual Purges in effect. Since 2013, The Purge series has been showing moviegoers an America where once a year for 12 hours, it's okay to commit whatever crime you want, including murder. The last entry was 2016's The Purge: Election Year, which earned mixed reviews and collected $118.6 million at the box office. Election Year could have served as an effective conclusion to the series, but was confirmed today that The Purge 4 is on the way, and it will be released in summer 2018.
Universal Studios, along with production companies Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes, have begun development (via THR) on The Purge 4, which will hit theaters on July 4, 2018. So what are the odds this movie is officially titled The Purge: Independence Day? Moving on, franchise creator James DeMonaco will be back for the fourth installment, but not as a director. He'll write the script and then pass the directorial reins to someone else at a later date.
While today's announcement didn't provide any Purge 4 plot details, James DeMonaco talked last year about how he wants the fourth Purge movie to be a prequel. Now that the trilogy is out of the way, he expressed interest in exploring how the legislation allowing people go absolutely nuts for half a day was enacted, as well as how it came to be considered the "new normal." Officially we can't say yet if The Purge 4 will be a prequel, but since DeMonaco is tackling the story, it's likelier to be the case than not. There is also a Purge TV series in the works, which will be an anthology series and which DeMonaco hopes to put on cable. However, that project hasn't been officially announced yet, but DeMonaco implied we may see it sooner rather than later.
Given how The Purge: Election Year concluded, the series could have ended right there. Following the violent events of 2040's Purge event, Senator Charlie Roan, having successfully avoided being assassinated, was elected President of the United States and began taking steps to outlaw the Purge. She was presumably successful, although many NFAA (New Founding Fathers of America) supporters reacted violently to the prospect of the status quo being overturned. Unless something happened after Election Year that either prevented Roan from accomplishing her goal or somehow resulted in the Purge being activated again, a prequel is the most sensible course of action for the fourth movie.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on how The Purge 4 is progressing as more news comes in, but for now, let us know what you think about a fourth installment coming in summer 2018 in the comments below.
