In 2002, the world met a young Irish actor named Cillian Murphy in a zombie movie called 28 Days Later. It was a massive success, making 10 times its budget and catapulting director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland to fame. The movie was followed by a 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, but plans for a possible 28 Months Later threequel fell through.
Now the franchise is rising from the dead as 28 Years Later, and the follow-up could launch a series of its own. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that 28 Years Later has landed at Sony Pictures, and there are plans to split the movie into Part 1 and Part 2. There could also be a third movie, giving fans a full sequel trilogy.
Danny Boyle will direct the first part of 28 Years Later.
Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Boyle will direct Part 1, but a new director will be found for Part 2 and the trilogy’s third entry. Garland, however, will write all three films. Cillian Murphy’s name is also attached, but just as an executive producer for now. Maybe he’ll appear in the films, but there are no plot details yet.
28 Years Later being two parts is a sign Sony feels confident about this zombie epic’s next chapter, or at least a sign the studio thinks the franchise can make a lot of money. Making a trilogy of a two-part film and then a standalone movie is an odd approach, but if any writer can pull it off, it’s Garland.
Cillian Murphy is currently attached to 28 Years Later, but only as executive producer so far.
Fox Searchlight Pictures
It also wouldn’t be the first movie in recent years to attempt this. Denis Villeneuve kicked off his Dune series with Dune and Dune: Part Two, and hopes to conclude with a third film. Zack Snyder launched his Netflix space opera Rebel Moon with a two-parter, and Sony itself used the structure with Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse, which were originally titled Across the Spider-Verse Part One and Two.
28 Weeks Later ended on a dark note, and fans have been wondering how (or if) humanity managed to survive ever since. Now we’ll finally get an answer, and we’ll have twice as much screen time to see it.
