It’s been a year and change since we last saw Blumhouse and Universal’s murder-y vision of the future in The Purge franchise’s last entry, The Forever Purge. Even with a very soft summer of moviegoing in 2021 as the industry was trying to emerge from the pandemic, the movie still made a very solid $76.9 million at the box office. So, it should come as no surprise that a sixth entry is well underway. What’s more, it has been confirmed by Frank Grillo personally that he will return as Leo Barnes in the proposed sequel, with franchise creator James DeMonaco headed back to the director’s chair.
Speaking with Empire Magazine (via Screen Rant), Grillo recently confirmed reports that started to surface late last year regarding his potential return to the series. For those who may need a refresher, Grillo appeared in both The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year as Leo, a man out for revenge who eventually manages to find peace of a sort. At least internally, as there’s still a lot of killing to be done on Purge night. In any event, the actor explained that DeMonaco has finished the script and that they’re trying to get Universal to sign off.
“I had an idea in my head about how I should look, and how I’m gonna hold my guns. All that stuff I planned out. That solidified me as a guy who could carry a mid-level action movie. And the director, James DeMonaco, changed my life. [I’ve] got one more left. James has the script. It focuses on the Leo Barnes character, and he wants to direct it. We’re working with Universal to see if we can pull this off before I’m in the old folks’ home.”
Worth noting that DeMonaco has written all five movies in the series thus far, though he has not directed one since Election Year in 2016. Gerard McMurry directed The First Purge, with Everardo Valerio Gout helming The Forever Purge. As for what would bring DeMonaco back to the director’s chair? Speaking with Daily Dread last year, he had this to say:
“I think I came up with a new way to flip the whole thing upside down, and it’ll be five years after this film, but it takes America in a whole new direction and I think it would be a very interesting place to explore. It also brings back a character from the previous films, which is fun. So if everything comes together nicely, we know anything can happen.”
Universal has every motivation to make this happen. The Purge movies have, collectively, earned more than $535 million at the global box office against $53 million in combined budgets. Even taking into account marketing, that is one heck of a rate of return. Not to mention two seasons of a TV series. Expect this to be announced formally sooner rather than later.
The Purge 6 does not currently have a release date set.
