Election Year has come and gone and Anarchy has reigned, but there’s still a future for The Purge franchise.
As was revealed earlier this year, a fourth film is heading our way under the title of The First Purge and it’ll open on July 4th. That’s not too far off now and as expected, Universal has begun the marketing campaign, which is proving to be quite interesting.
But first, just in case you’re unfamiliar with The Purge and its primitive premise, Blumhouse’s cult series takes place in the near future where the United States of America grinds to a halt for a 12-hour period in which all crime – all crime – is legal. Cue the anarchy.
To date, there have been three Purge movies: the beloved 2013 original, along with its sequels Anarchy (2014) and Election Year (2016). Now, it’s time to find out how the Purge came to be. Series creator James DeMonaco is back on writing duties, though he’s since handed over the reins to Gerard McMurray, who stepped into the director’s chair back in 2017. And now, as the promotional campaign starts to heat up, EW has debuted a brand new image from the pic, which can be seen below.
Unfortunately, there was no context given for what’s going on in this new photo, but while chatting to Entertainment Weekly, DeMonaco explained a bit about what Marisa Tomei’s role in the film is. Apparently, she’ll play a “psychologist who’s responsible for the idea of the Purge,” and here’s what the writer had to say about her:
“She feels that a societal catharsis would be good. She is a psychologist who has created the Purge, and she actually does believe it’s something that society needs. It’s a very angry society. She’s seen a citizenry that is rioting quite often in the country. She actually believes in — it’s a weird thing to say — the purity of what the Purge might do and she wants to try the experiment. She doesn’t see that the government, the NFFA, who’s putting it into effect has a completely different agenda.”
Continuing on, DeMonaco also spoke a bit about why the citizens of Staten Island would agree to be Purge guinea pigs in the first place, saying:
“There’s a monetary component, meaning if you participate, and you stay on the island during the Purge, you will receive a $5,000 stipend,” says DeMonaco, who wrote and directed the first three Purge movies, but this time has ceded the director’s chair to Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands). “So, mostly, poor people stay and rich people leave. But obviously there’s twists and turns, and government manipulation, and all these allusions to the Trump administration.”
The First Purge is directed by Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands), working from a screenplay once again written by James DeMonaco. Starring Y’Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Luna Lauren Velez and Marisa Tomei, it’s slated to arrive in theaters on July 4.