William Earl Over five low-budget box office hits and a two-season TV series, “The Purge” saga — which portrays a not-too-distant-future America where all crimes, including murder, are legal for one night a year in order to satiate a bloodthirsty public — swelled into a $450 million franchise.

But the first chapter was almost never made. While the film became the defining hit of writer and director James DeMonaco’s career, he says the script was passed over “40-50 times” for being seen as “too anti-American.” “I had this little, strange, dark indictment of American gun culture,” he said. “I hate guns.

To me, the scariest thing in the world would be a night where everyone was armed and it was legal to use these firearms. To me, there was nothing scarier than that notion.” Ultimately, the film got the attention of super-producer Jason Blum, who “saw something bigger in the conceit,” said DeMonaco.

Soon, the script impressed Universal’s Donna Langley, and Blum and DeMonaco’s previous collaborator Ethan Hawke signed onto the fresh project. “The Purge” hit theaters on June 7, 2013, and DeMonaco saw his once-unfilmable project clobbering box office competition like the third weekend of “Fast & Furious 6” and the opening run of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn’s “The Internship.” In its opening weekend, “The Purge” earned $34 million on a budget of $2 million. “Opening weekend, I think we just thought it would be this tiny little thing,” DeMonaco said. “It was complete shock, it’s still a shock to this day.” DeMonaco went on to write all five of the films in the franchise, create the TV show, and direct the first three films.

‘The Purge’ Turns 10: How Creator James DeMonaco Turned a $2 Million Anti-Gun Movie Into a $450 Million Franchise

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