Last summer, “28 Days Later” director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland returned to the post-apocalyptic Britain they first created back in 2002 with the legacy sequel “28 Years Later,” which was a solid box office success for Sony and Columbia Pictures.
Now the second installment of a planned trilogy arrives with “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” which will test the staying power of the series as Boyle and Garland prepare the third and final chapter, which Sony greenlit last month. Nia DaCosta, who has experience with horror legacyquels with the 2021 revival of “Candyman,” directed “The Bone Temple” with Boyle as a producer.
At CinemaCon last year, Boyle said that whether the “28 Years Later” trilogy would be completed would depend on how the first two installments, which were shot back-to-back, did at the box office.
But the first film has done so well that Sony seems confident that there’s enough traction with audiences for the whole trilogy to be profitable, especially considering that “Oppenheimer” Oscar winner and original “28 Days Later” star Cillian Murphy will return for the finale after a cameo in “The Bone Temple.”
Against a reported $60 million budget, “28 Years Later” opened to $30 million domestically last June and grossed $70.4 million domestic and $151 million worldwide, with $21 million coming from the film’s native UK. It was Sony’s second-highest-grossing film last year behind Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.”
Now “The Bone Temple,” which has a $63 million budget co-financed by TSG Entertainment, is projected by Sony for a $20 million opening over the 4-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Independent trackers are projecting a similar launch with a possibility of stretching to $22 million.
Early reviews for “Bone Temple” have been just as strong as for “28 Years Later,” standing at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes at time of writing. Advance fan screenings have also led to rave word-of-mouth on social media.
The one big thing that could trip up this sequel is that there is some degree of a gap between how critics and hardcore fans have received this series compared to the wider audience. “28 Years Later” earned an 89% Rotten Tomatoes critics score, but its audience score stands at a softer 63%.
This difference was seen in the film’s numbers, as it suffered a 67.5% second weekend drop. Not enough to keep “28 Years Later” from being modestly profitable, but enough that it made the film more frontloaded compared to other horror hits like Warner Bros.’ “Sinners” and “Weapons.”
While still keeping the gore and intensity of its predecessors, “28 Years Later” is a film that took the series in surprising new directions, including a coming-of-age story for 12-year-old protagonist Spike (Alfie Williams), a touching performance by Ralph Fiennes as hermit doctor Ian Kelson, and an ending that introduces the sadistic antagonist of “The Bone Temple,” cult leader Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell).
Under DaCosta’s direction, “The Bone Temple” continues these surprises as Kelson becomes the centerpiece of surprisingly humorous sequences set to songs by Duran Duran and Iron Maiden while developing an unlikely relationship with a powerful Rage Virus-infected man whom he names Samson. At the same time, Jimmy’s cult provides the sort of savagery that “28 Years” fans and horror fans at large would come to expect.
A lower box office total than “28 Years Later” is likely in the cards here unless post-release word-of-mouth is not only strong but specifically concentrates around a message that gets the portion of moviegoers who were dissatisfied with the first film to give the series a second chance and join the fans in buying a ticket.
Meanwhile, films like Paramount’s “Primate,” Cineverse’s “Return to Silent Hill” and 20th Century’s “Send Help” will serve as plentiful competition as gory thrills take up a great deal of theatrical space to start 2026.
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