Tuesday, May 19, 2026

“The Purge” Makes 12 Times Its Budget In Opening Weekend, Didn’t Even Have a Premiere

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Box office: “The Purge” made $36.9 million in its opening weekend, or roughly 12 times its budget. The Ethan Hawke starring thriller didn’t even have a premiere anywhere, no red carpet or party, nothing. “The Purge” also took in twice as much as “The Internship,” a movie shot on the Google campus starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. That movie came in fourth. Will Smith’s $150 million “After Earth” fell to seventh place in its second weekend on its way to total collapse and write off.  The premise of the “The Purge” is that by 2022 everything is so wonderful in the world that one night a year everyone is allowed to commit crimes. It’s the equivalent of Golden Globes night. (Just kidding!) “The Purge,” brought to us by the producers of “Paranormal Activity,” will be the most profitable film of the year. Those others, not so much.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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