28 Years Later continued its run at the box office over the weekend and, despite competition from the likes of Brad Pitt’s big-budget racing movie F1 and M3GAN 2.0, director Danny Boyle’s sequel held its own. Relatively speaking. While the third entry in Boyle and writer Alex Garland’s zombie trilogy did suffer a major drop in its second frame, it also crossed a pretty major milestone.
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After pulling in another $9.7 million on its second weekend domestically and a solid $13.7 million internationally, 28 Years Later has now earned a total of $103 million globally. That brings it past the $100 million mark, becoming just the third horror movie of 2025 to do so joining Sinners ($364.6 million) and Final Destination Bloodlines ($281.2 million). That’s very good news for the $60 million production, which is being handled by Sony Pictures.
Universal’s bad fortune somewhat played into Sony’s hand here. M3GAN 2.0 fell way short of expectations with a mere $17 million global opening. That meant many horror seekers were freed up to choose zombies over killer AI robots.
On the one hand, the sequel dropped 68% at the domestic box office compared to its impressive $30 million opening. On the other hand, it’s already the highest-grossing entry in the trilogy, surpassing 28 Days Later ($83 million) and 28 Weeks Later ($64 million). Granted, both of those movies were far cheaper to produce but still. After less than two full weeks of release, that’s a solid start. Especially considering that the movie dropped just 49% in international markets.
The sequel picks up nearly three decades after the emergence of the so-called rage virus and centers on a group of survivors who live on a small, isolated island. Things take a turn when a father and his son head out on a mission to the mainland. The film stars Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), Jack O'Connell (Sinners), Ralph Fiennes (The Menu) and newcomer Alfie Williams.
Sony has a lot invested in the movie as they already have a sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, in the can and set to arrive in January 2026. That one was directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman). The big promise of the whole enterprise is that Boyle would return for a third installment that will bring back Cillian Murphy’s Jim from the first movie in a major role to help close things out. However, Boyle has made it clear that movie’s green light status at the studio is contingent on this movie’s performance commercially.
Given the $60 million budget, it’s still got a ways to go before Sony will turn a profit. If the sequel can get to over/under $150 million globally, that should be enough to constitute success. As of right now, it’s well on its way to that becoming a reality. The very postive word of mouth from critics certaionly hasn’t hurt anything. It’s just a matter of being able to hang around as other big newcomers enter the marketplace as the summer rolls on, including Jurassic World Rebirth.
28 Years Later is in theaters now. For more, find out why Hatchet 5 hasn’t happened yet, according to director Adam Green.
