Surging past the reigns of Fast & Furious 6 in the box office, The Purge brings in $36.4 million in the opening weekend pushing The Internship to the side.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the movie that only cost $3 million to make had a huge impact in the box office this weekend and are most definitely reaping the benefits to say the least.
Ethan Hawke who starred in, Day Breakers, has had the best opening weekend of his career with Training Day coming in second with $22.6 million in 2001. This weekend on the Indie route he earned $585,000 from only 52 locations for his movie Before Midnight collecting a total of $1.5 million for this dramatic meeting in Greece.
According to Newsday, The sci-fi thriller about a single night to allow all crimes was only expected to get an opening weekend draw of about $18 to $25 million, but it clearly exceeded expectations
"Never did we expect it to open at this level," said head of distribution for Universal, Nikki Rocco. "This result could not have been forecasted by anybody."
The low budgeted film proves that fear can draw a crowd regardless of the cost:
"This is exactly the kind of film that stumps all the analysts," said analyst for box-office tracker for Hollywood.com, Paul Dergarabedian. "It proves that R-rated horror films, no matter the budget, always have a place with audiences."
The weekend before the Man of Steel arrival was supposed to be slow, but clearly, The Purge, made a lasting impression.