‘The Purge’ Made a Bunch of Money this Weekend

In the calm before the Man of Steel storm, this weekend was due to be a craptastic one to be at movie theaters. Despite such a dour expectation, Universal's thriller The Purge took the top spot with a truly massive $36.5 million debut.

Since it cost only $3 million to make and went heavy on digital advertising, the sleeper hit will be a hugely profitable one for Universal. The movie, produced by Paranormal Activity's Jason Blum, has one of those late 60s / early 70s dystopian sci-fi premises: under an iron-handed government, one night every year, all crime is legal - murder, dismemberment, whatever. Ethan Hawke plays a dad who must protect his family during the titular purge. Among his brood is relative newcomer, the very sexy 22 year old Australian actress Adelaide Kane, who spends most of the movie in some sort of Catholic school girl get-up. Which is awesome.

Well done, Universal. Well done.