When a movie’s sequel is green-lit so rapidly, one could usually chalk it up to an incredibly successful premiere. It’s a rare occasion where you can say that it was due, in part, to a tax credit. Unless you’re Uwe Boll, in which case it’s just an everyday occurrence. However, in this case, it’s “The Purge” that’s moving forward with a sequel that could start shooting this year.
With only a $3 million budget, Universal’s “The Purge” was sure to make its profit back and then some. Over the weekend, it topped the box office charts and entered Monday morning with a cool $34.1 million gross. While not astounding numbers, it’s still an impressive feat for an untested horror movie, that’s not part of a preexisting property and was barely marketed. It was also enough to convince Universal that a sequel might be in order.
The financial success isn’t the only reason Universal is so eager to move forward with another film. Blumhouse Productions could potentially receive a $2.25 million tax credit from the California Film Commission that they would then put towards filming “The Purge 2.”
Some of the stipulations for the tax credit require that the production spend at least 75% of their production days in California and that they must begin principal production on the project within 180 days of being approved for the tax credit. The film also has to provide a shooting schedule, scene descriptions, and a synopsis of the script to show that they’re ready to start production. A lot of the application process is happening right now, so it would seem that work on a sequel will be ramping up pretty fast. It would also seem that writing these movies doesn’t require much effort.
Blumhouse will find out if they’re eligible for the tax credit by the end of July, at which case we’ll likely hear if next summer we’ll be watching the followup, but until then you can go see their current film “The Purge” right now. [Variety]
