26/04/2024 - Danny Boyle and Alex Garland reunite for the first in a planned trilogy of sequels to the film that launched Cillian Murphy’s career and is credited for reviving the zombie genre

Actors Jodie Comer (© The Tony Awards), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (© Gage Skidmore) and Ralph Fiennes (© Dick Thomas Johnson)

UPDATE 26 April 2024: Jodie Comer (The End We Start From [+see also:
film review
film profile], The Last Duel [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Killing Eve), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Tenet [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Bullet Train) and Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], The Grand Budapest Hotel [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], A Bigger Splash [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luca Guadagnino
film profile], The White Crow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ralph Fiennes
film profile]) have been cast to star in 28 Years Later, which has now been announced as the first in a new trilogy of sequels, each budgeted at $75 million.

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Before Oppenheimer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Peaky Blinders, actor Cillian Murphy was best known to international audiences for the film that launched his career, the UK-set post-apocalyptic zombie film 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danny Boyle
film profile]) and written by Alex Garland (director of Ex Machina [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], Annihilation, and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). Sony has now acquired the rights to the highly anticipated new sequel, titled 28 Years Later and reuniting Boyle and Garland, with Murphy onboard only as executive producer for the moment. The deal was first announced by The Hollywood Reporter.

This will be the film’s second sequel after 2007’s 28 Weeks Later [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was set in the same universe as the original film but directed and co-written by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, with Boyle and Garland involved as executive producers only. 28 Years Later will come with a Part 2 also to be written by Garland, but without Boyle directing and a director to be determined at a later date. Also returning from the original film is producer Andrew Macdonald. He will be joined by Bernie Bellew and Peter Rice, former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures which backed and released the original film.

The deal was the result of an intense bidding war, with Sony ultimately coming out on top. 28 Days Later was a worldwide box-office hit, taking in over $80 million on a $8 million budget. The film spawned a graphic novel in 2007 and is credited for reviving the zombie genre in film and TV in the 2000s and 2010s. The Hollywood Reporter writes that the filmmakers were eager to secure theatrical releases for the two new sequels.