Although we didn’t get any new Paranormal Activity movies in 2013, there was certainly no shortage of low budget horror films picking up the slack. In fact, one of the biggest success stories of the year was James DeMonaco’s The Purge starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey. The movie made $87 million worldwide on just a $3 million budget and now it looks like Universal and Blumhouse Productions will take the obvious next step and move forward with a sequel. While it’s unclear if any of the stars will be returning, DeMonaco will be back in the director’s chair. Although there is no clear recurring villain, could this possibly become the next big horror franchise?

According to Variety, James DeMonaco will be returning to write and direct The Purge 2. Jason Blum will be back as producer along with Michael Bay and Sebastien Lemercier. It seems safe to assume that they may bump up the budget a little bit this time around, especially since they are in line to receive a $2.25 million tax credit from the state of California for the production of the sequel.

The original film introduces the concept of “the Purge”, an annual 12-hour period where the U.S. government legalizes crime. Story details for the sequel are not yet known, but it seems like there is an unlimited number of stories that could be told using this as a backdrop. One of the complaints many people had about the first film is that it took place mostly in a contained environment. If they could show more of the madness outside this time around, it would probably be a big draw. What do you think, are you interested in seeing a sequel to The Purge?