Even though the story was more or less wrapped up at the end of The Purge: Election Year, we should probably get used to these movies, much like the Purge itself, happening about once a year. James DeMonaco, creator of the franchise and director of all three, will be back writing the screenplay and working closely with Universal to find a director for the fourth.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that the studio has set a release date of July 4, 2018, which is probably an extremely deliberate choice, given the timely release of the most recent installment. DeMonaco is also working on developing an anthology TV series weaving together a few storylines against the background of Purge Night, so get ready for a lot more purging in the years to come.

Frank Grillo has said he probably won’t be returning for the fourth, so this could be an opportunity, in a way, to start fresh and introduce a bunch of new characters in a new location and see where the series goes from there. As slasher / home-invasion / crazy-as-hell horror goes, the Purge movies have brewed up a great formula to get audiences in seats. The story has expanded exponentially installment to installment, starting with a small-scale slasher and ending up at the war for America’s political conscience it became in Election Year. From there, the story could go anywhere.

More From Magic 104.9