The Purge is a 2013 American horror film directed by James DeMonaco. It stars Lena Headey, Ethan Hawke, and Edwin Hodge and follows a family defending themselves over the course of a night where all crime is legal for 12 hours. The film received widespread promotion through trailers, posters, interviews with cast and crew, social media campaigns, competitions and merchandise. Though reviews were mixed, it was financially successful, grossing over $89 million in the US and spurring two sequels from director James DeMonaco.

1. 360 promotion
The Purge

2. The Purge
Director: James DeMonaco
Producer: Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller and Sebastien Lemercier
Writer: James DeMonaco
Main actors: Lena Headey, Ethan Hawke, Tony Oller, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane and Edwin Hodge
Released in cinemas in the UK: 31st May 2013
Released on DVD in the UK: 21st October 2013, single and special edition
Released on Blu-ray in the UK: 21st October 2013
Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes (approx.)
Genre: Horror
Sub-genre: Political, psychological, thriller
Age rating: 15

3. Interviews
YouTube: Movies coming soon –James DeMonaco (director, producer and writer)
-Lena Headley (actor)
-Ethan Hawke (actor)
Black Tree TV- Jason Blum
The Met report- James DeMonaco and Jason Blum (producer)
Video Detective- James DeMonaco (director, producer and writer)
Magazine: RockRevolt magazine- written by Sarah Church on Edwin Hodge (actor)
Radio: BBC Radio 1- hosted by Nick Grimshaw, interviewed Lena Headley and Ethan Hawke (actors)

4. Promotion
Most physical promotion was in the UK and USA from billboards to telephone boxes.

5. Promotion
As well as posters about, Universal also made adverts which were played between programme after the
watershed as the age rating for the film is 15.
The adverts were played between the break in Plebs on E4 and iTV; mostly between Celebrity juice.
Universal also included adverts on social media sites such as tabs on FaceBook.
The trailer of Purge was used in cinemas before the film starts, one film which used the Purge’s trailer was
Paranormal activity 4

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Facebook and Twitter promotion

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10. Competitions
To promote the Purge, many magazine, radio shows and the company of Universal created competitions to
win prizes related to the Purge
Blumhouse offered a free Purge poster if you posted a photo of your cinema ticket on twitter.
The Purge offered a free copy of the Purge on DVD by quoting your favourite lines.

11. Merchandise
From the film merchandise was made due to the popularity of the slogans and outfits.
Masks were made by Howling Hands and are sold global on different websites.
On Cafe press, Redbubble and Feistees they sell tops, mugs, badges, printed bags and much more.

12. Money
During the first week the Purge was shown in the US, it took $36 million in debut week when it only cost $3
million to make. After it was shown in the cinema, the end result was $89,328,627.
In the UK it took £64.4 million.
Worldwide cinemas took $91,000,513.
DVD sales were just as good, in the US they took $7,332,299, for Blu-rays they took $4,678,541

13. Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released in the UK 4th June 2013 by Back Lot music.
They took over £1 million from purchases

14. Reviews
Reviews have been made everywhere from magazine articles to vlogs posted by YouTube account holders.
One review website called Rotten Tomatoes are known for their reviews. The result came in at 38%
satisfaction from 136 reviews; 52 were good reviews, 84 were bad. Even though the majority didn’t enjoy
the film, the review is still on media which means it accessible to everyone and therefore still promoting the
film .

15. Result of The Purge
As some critics saw The Purge as a great success, James DeMonaco has directed and written a sequel
called ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ which was released in the UK 25th of July 2014.
In result of the sequel, James is currently working on a third Purge movie called ‘The Purge 3’ which will
be released in 2016.