The First Purge Budget

What is the budget of The First Purge?

"The First Purge," an action released in 2018, was directed by Gerard McMurray and stars Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis. The production budget was $13,000,000, placing it in the low-budget range for action productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for an action production like this include:

• Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects: Action films allocate a substantial portion of their budget to choreographing and executing practical stunts, pyrotechnics, and CGI-heavy sequences.
• Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director): A-list talent commands significant upfront fees plus backend participation.
• Production Design, Sets & Locations: Action films frequently require multiple international shooting locations, large-scale set construction, vehicle acquisitions and modifications, and specialized equipment , all of which drive production costs well above those of dialogue-driven genres.
• Production: In September 2016, James DeMonaco, the creator of the franchise, said that the fourth film, a follow-up to 2016's The Purge: Election Year, would be a prequel to the trilogy, showing how the United States came to the point of accepting the Purge Night.

What were the major cost factors in The First Purge?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "The First Purge."

• Stunts: Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects is one of the primary cost drivers in action productions of this scale.
• Above-the-Line Talent (Cast: Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director) is one of the primary cost drivers in action productions of this scale.
• Production Design: Production Design, Sets & Locations is one of the primary cost drivers in action productions of this scale.

How Does The First Purge's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $13,000,000, The First Purge sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Miss Sloane (2016): Budget $13,000,000, Worldwide Gross $9,101,546
• RoboCop (1987): Budget $13,000,000, Worldwide Gross $53,424,681
• The Godfather Part II (1974): Budget $13,000,000, Worldwide Gross $102,600,000
• The Holdovers (2023): Budget $13,000,000, Worldwide Gross $42,513,270
• In the Name of the Father (1993): Budget $13,000,000, Worldwide Gross $65,796,862

The median budget for wide-release action films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

The First Purge Box Office Performance

"The First Purge" earned $137,056,262 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $13,000,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "The First Purge," that break-even threshold was roughly $26,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $137,056,262, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $13,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $137,056,262
• Net Return: $124,056,262
• ROI: approximately 954.3%

At 954.3%, "The First Purge" earned roughly $10.54 for every $1 invested in production.

Critical Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 177 reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "The First Purge should satisfy fans of the franchise and filmgoers in the mood for violent vicarious thrills, even if its subtextual reach exceeds its grasp." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".