After years of speculation, a new sequel for zombie horror hit 28 Days Later is reportedly in the works – two decades since the 2002 original.
Titled 28 Years Later, the film marks the third instalment in the franchise after 28 Days Later and the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later. The new film will mark the reunion of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who directed and wrote the first film, then served as executive producers on the second.
The new film will be the first in a new trilogy, according to an exclusive report from The Hollywood Reporter. Anonymous sources told the industry publication that the project would be shopped around studios, streamers and other potential buyers later this week.
Boyle will direct 28 Years Later, while Garland is on board to write all three films.
The budget for each film is around $75m, a far cry from 28 Days Later’s $8m budget. The 2002 film became a critical hit and a surprise box office success, as well as a launchpad for its star, Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy.
Murphy, who was still reasonably unknown at the time, played a bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma to a post-apocalyptic UK, which has been ravaged by a virus that turns victims into bloodthirsty aggressors.
The film – which the Guardian called a “muscular, virile piece of film-making” – is largely credited for re-animating the zombie horror genre and popularising the depiction of zombies as fast-moving, terrifying attackers rather than brain-dead cadavers.
There have been whispers of the franchise’s third instalment since 2007.
“There is an idea for the next one,” Boyle said that year, months after the release of 28 Weeks Later. Garland, Murphy, and co-star Imogen Poots have also expressed interest in a new instalment in the past decade, though no actors are currently attached to the upcoming film.
“Every time I do bump into Danny or Alex I always mention it,” Murphy told NME in 2022. “It really stands up, which is amazing for a film that’s 20 years old.”