Belated horror sequel 28 Years Later is definitely happening, with Sony having snapped up a new trilogy from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland.
It’s been a few weeks now since news landed that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland were definitely returning to the world of their 2002 hit 28 Days Later.
The film, which starred Cillian Murphy, was penned by Garland and directed by Boyle. A tasty genre hit it turned out to be too, drawing influence from the zombie favourites that came before it and influencing undead-based films for years afterwards. Would we have got Zack Snyder’s fast-zombie Dawn Of The Dead remake without 28 Days Later? Possibly not.
Neither Boyle nor Garland was directly involved in the also-impressive sequel, 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, that was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. But rumours sprung up a few months ago that they were tempted to come back for a new film. Then, earlier this year, it was revealed that it’s a new trilogy they’re planning, with Boyle set to direct the first.
The trilogy was going out to market, with several studios and companies reported to be interested in picking the three films up. And, we have a winner! A winner whose name is clearly given away by the headline of this article, but let’s at least try and prolong the surprise.
It’s Sony! Who saw that coming?
Sony had previously worked with Danny Boyle on T2: Trainspotting, and it’s inked a deal for the new films, led by 28 Years Later. Each film is set to cost in the region of $75m apiece, which should suit Sony fine. As the only studio that doesn’t directly have a streaming service of its own, it can charge a handsome sum to whichever of the assorted platforms fancies picking the movies up once they’ve completed their theatrical run.
The hope is that the films will get shooting this year, although we don’t know anything for certain about casting as of yet. Cillian Murphy is at least on board as an executive producer.
No matter, though: for the time being, we can at least salute the fact that 28 Years Later is definite, and we’ll bring you more on it as we hear it.
