‘The Purge’ Claims Top Spot At Weekend Box Office
The Purge killed the competition at the box office this weekend.
Writer-director James DeMonaco’s low-budget flick proved popular with genre-loving moviegoers since opening on Friday. The film’s three-day total will reportedly come in at $36.4 million.
Universal didn’t spend a whole lot of money on the Purge. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie’s production budget was an estimated $3 million. It wouldn’t be surprising if Universal attempted to this film into a franchise.
The studio had expected the Ethan Hawke thriller to bring in around $20 million from audiences over the weekend. Chances are there’s lots of celebrating going on at Universal right now. The film also proves that low-budget horror flicks can hold their own during the busy summer movie season.
While the movie made quite a bit of cash over the weekend, The Purge wasn’t exactly a critical darling. The film’s Rotten Tomatoes score is currently stalled at 41 percent, which means most reviews were rotten.
The audience score wasn’t much better; only 59 percent of moviegoers enjoyed the the thriller. Even if the film’s business dips considerably over the weekend, it’s already considered a hit.
The Purge isn’t the only hit Universal has at the box office right now. Director Justin Lin’s Fast and Furious 6 continues to make a ton of money in North America. According to The Wrap, the film generated an additional $19.7 million over the weekend. This effectively sent its domestic total over the $200 million mark.
Director Louis Leterrier’s flick Now You See Me continued to post strong numbers following its debut last week. The thriller earned an additional $19.5 million over the weekend. This helped the movie secure the third place spot at the box office.
The Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy The Internship landed in fourth place with a respectable $18 million in ticket sales. The movie finds the Wedding Crashers stars as two middle-aged guys who taken an internship at Google.
Did you catch The Purge in theaters over the weekend? Are you surprised that the horror flick managed to claim the top spot at the box office?
