Universal’s “The Forever Purge,” the fifth and final movie in “The Purge” horror franchise, and the animated family sequel “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” each made $1.3 million at Thursday preview screenings ahead of the 4th of July weekend.
Both films figure to perform strongly over the long weekend in theaters, and with “F9” still going strongly, there’s a chance Universal can take the top 3 spots at the box office. “F9” earned $4.9 million on Thursday and is expected to finish its second weekend in theaters at No. 1.
“The Forever Purge” made $1.33 million from 2,550 theaters with showings that began at 7 p.m., and it opens on 3,051 screens this weekend. And “Boss Baby” made $1.31 million with preview screenings that began at 4:00 p.m. across 2,700 screens. It opens wide on 3,640 North American theaters, but it also opens in a hybrid release on NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock.
Universal’s “The Forever Purge” is projected for a $10 million opening over the 4th of July holiday weekend, but it along with “Boss Baby: Family Business” have to contend with several other buzzy streaming titles in a test of whether 4th of July audiences go back to theaters. Those include the Chris Pratt action film “The Tomorrow War” on Amazon, Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” on HBO Max and Netflix’s first film in a horror trilogy, “Fear Street.”
But the fifth “Purge” movie is so far on par with what previous films have done in the franchise. 2016’s film “The Purge: Election Year” made $3.6 million in previews and opened to $31.5 million. And “The First Purge” also opened on 4th of July weekend in 2018, and it made $2.5 million on a Tuesday night before opening to $17.3 million over the long weekend.
As for “The Boss Baby,” the original film was a surprise box office success in 2017, eventually earning more than $500 million worldwide. That film made $1.5 million in Thursday previews in March 2017 before kicking off to a $50.1 million opening.
Everardo Gout is directing “The Forever Purge” from a screenplay by the franchise’s original creator James DeMonaco. Ana de la Reguera stars in the film alongside Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Alejandro Edda and Will Patton.
“The Forever Purge” picks up after the conclusion of the latest Purge, with all crime back to being illegal. But when an underground movement no longer satisfied with one annual night of anarchy and murder decides to overtake America through an unending campaign of mayhem and massacre, no one is safe. The film follows two families in Texas fighting back against a gang of killers as the rest of the country begins to spiral into chaos around them.
“The Boss Baby: Family Business” picks up 40 years after the first movie and sees estranged brothers Ted and Tim (Alec Baldwin and James Marsden) brought back together by Tim’s infant daughter Tina (Amy Sedaris), who is revealed to be an agent investigating a private school attended by her older sister that is run by a shadowy businessman (Jeff Goldblum). Tom McGrath and Michael McCullors return as director and screenwriter, respectively, and Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow also reprise their roles from the first film.
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