Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for the fourth instalment of Blumhouse Productions successful Purge franchise, The First Purge. The self-explanatory title goes back to the beginning, showing how the New Founding Fathers of America began. There is also a new poster that offers its own variation on Lady Liberty.

The premise of each film focuses on the events that take place during an annual 12-hour period where all crime is legal. The latest trailer details how the Purge began as a controversial experiment on Staten Island, put forth by Dr. May Updale (Marisa Tomei), feeling that in order for the country to be saved, the people need a night to release all their anger.

We see that the first Purge doesn’t go quite the way the organisers planned, as people use the night to celebrate and party. That is until ex-military soldiers disguised as citizens get people to participate.

The prequel is written by James DeMonaco, writer and director of the previous three Purge films. Directing duties have been handed over to Gerard McMurray. The cast also includes Lex Scott Davis, Y’Lan Noel, Joivan Wade and Luna Lauren Velez.

Blumhouse Productions released The Purge back in 2013 and its success on a minuscule production budget of $3 million was enough to start a franchise. The trio of Purge films carry a combined production cost of $22 million. With the worldwide gross of each film being more than the last, they have earned a combined total of over $300 million worldwide.

The First Purge opens in the US on 4 July 2018 and in the UK on 6 July 2018.