This has been a great summer for horror movies. THE CONJURING 2 opened at number 1. THE SHALLOWS made a surprising splash. And now, this 4th of July weekend we have THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR. The Thursday night box office numbers have rolled in, and guess what. So far, it's the biggest new movie of the weekend. At $3.64 million, it beat out TARZAN (no duh) at $2.55 million and THE BFG at $755 thousand.
Obviously this doesn't necessarily mean that THE PURGE is going to lead the weekend, but let's take a moment to let this sink in. THE PURGE beat out a f**king Steven Spielberg movie this weekend. How in our wildest dreams could that possibly have happened?
Full disclosure, I wasn't a huge fan of ELECTION YEAR and found it a little tasteless, but the fact that horror is performing crazily strong in theaters is nothing but good news. I can't wait to see how more genre flicks like GHOSTBUSTERS, LIGHTS OUT, and DON'T BREATHE do later on this season! Go horror!
Written and directed by THE PURGE creator James DeMonaco, ELECTION YEAR has the following synopsis:
It’s been two years since Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) stopped himself from a regrettable act of revenge on Purge Night. Now serving as head of security for Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), his mission is to protect her in a run for president and survive the annual ritual that targets the poor and innocent. But when a betrayal forces them onto the streets of D.C. on the one night when no help is available, they must stay alive until dawn… or both be sacrificed for their sins against the state.
ELECTION YEAR also stars Mykelti Williamson, Raymond J. Barry, and Edwin Hodge. It is currently in theaters.