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Reagen Sulewski: On an individual case basis, sure this is a good result, but no studio is happy with the diminishing returns case, as it doesn't take a lot to blow up the budget just enough that the next slide doesn't cover the costs. This isn't going to cross $50 million domestic, and prints (admittedly kind of an outdated term now) and advertising never get put into the published budget figures, so it's much less of a success than we see here. But also, there's no upward trend to look forward to here, and there's definitely a reason why we don't still have Saw movies even though the last one was still profitable.

Kim Hollis: I'd say it's a completely expected result.The studio attempted to grab some cash and will largely succeed. For a small financial outlay, this will bring them some solid earnings, especially once home video revenue is factored in (this is so often where horror films really make the majority of their profit). Yes, we will see another Purge film and yes, it will probably decline in audience as well. The studio just has to do the calculation of when it makes sense to just move straight-to-DVD.

David Mumpower: My philosophy on this one is simple. The Purge as a concept is a money-maker. Lawlessness is an idea that appeals to a lot of people. It's why the Wild West/Deadwood concept continues to experience random surges in public interest. Similarly, the mafia, biker crews and dirty cops provide the same appeal. People fantasize about what it would be like to ignore the basic social contract. The Purge did exactly that and while its reception was less than glowing (it has a terrible 5.5 rating on IMDb), consumers understand what they are buying with the sequel.

I have spoken in the past about the way that marketing works best. That is when there is a direct one to one relationship between the product and the consumer. There is purity with The Purge franchise that is hard to attain with most films. I stated that Transformers had the same advantage last month on a larger scale. Most people may not love the movies, but there is a rare deliverance of truth in advertising. I always felt like people were sleeping on The Purge: Anarchy a bit. The fact that it exceeded most expectations then was underestimated for the weekend reflects the way that it fills a niche.

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