The Purge is a 2013 American dystopian action horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco. Set in the year 2022, the film stars Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Adelaide Kane, and Max Burkholder as members of a wealthy family who find themselves endangered by a gang of murderers during the annual Purge, a night during which all crime, including murder, is temporarily legal. The Purge premiered at the Stanley Film Festival on May 2, 2013, and Universal Pictures theatrically released it in the United States on June 7, 2013. The film grossed $91 million against a $3 million budget. It is the first installment in the Purge franchise. A sequel, subtitled Anarchy, was released worldwide on July 18, 2014.[5] A third film, Election Year, was released July 1, 2016, and a prequel, The First Purge, was released on July 4, 2018,[6][7] and a television series, set between the second and third films, aired for two seasons from September 4, 2018, to December 17, 2019. A fifth film, The Forever Purge, was released on July 2, 2021.[8]
