Sony Greenlights Third 28 YEARS LATER Film as Cillian Murphy Enters Talks and Alex Garland Starts Writing
Sony Pictures is officially pushing forward with its 28 Days Later franchise. With the energy and excitment coming out of early fan screenings for Nia DaCosta’s upcoming sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the studio is officially moving forward with the third film in the trilogy.
The next installment doesn’t have a title yet, but momentum is strong enough that Alex Garland is already writing it and Cillian Murphy is now in talks to return.
The second film arrives on January 16 and viewers who caught last night’s AMC Century City fan event were loud about it.
Metro’s Tori Brazier said, "This has cranked everything up to 11, and I warn you, you will need a very strong stomach (or a sick bag)." So it sounds like DaCosta has delivered a horror experience designed to leave viewers squirming.
Christopher Mills of Nexus Point News called the film "one of the greatest horror movies of the decade, as it takes the first movie and goes 10 extra miles with the brutality and intensity of the world." It is high praise for a franchise already known for tension and bleak intensity.
Murphy’s potential return is a big deal for longtime fans of 28 Days Later. The actor not only reprises his role in The Bone Temple, he is also an executive producer on both recent films. Fresh off his Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer, Murphy remains one of the franchise’s strongest links to the 2002 origin point.
Garland’s involvement further ties the trilogy back to its roots since he scripted the original Danny Boyle classic.
Sony’s plan for the trilogy has been interesting. When they acquired the rights they secured an option for a third movie but held off on formally starting it. Instead they shot the first two installments back to back.
Danny Boyle returned to direct the first film in this revived slate and DaCosta took the reins on the second. Boyle has expressed interest in directing the third entry and there is hope he will be back behind the camera.
The renewed franchise has already proven itself commercially. 28 Years Later opened to $30 million, one of the strongest horror debuts in a very crowded year for the genre. It went on to earn $70.4 million domestic and $151.3 million worldwide. That makes it the top grossing entry in the entire series which originally began under Fox Searchlight in 2002.
Across all three horror films, the franchise has brought in nearly $300 million globally. Each chapter has explored a future where the infected overwhelm humanity and survivors fracture into fiercely opposed factions, a theme that will intensify in The Bone Temple.
I was really hoping that Boyle and Garland would get to make all three films and tell the whole story they originally envisioned, so this is exciting news!
Source: Deadline