Last year finally brought Danny Boyle and Alex Garland back to the world of the undead with a long-awaited return to the 28 Days Later universe. 28 Years Later kicked off what is intended to be a whole new trilogy within the franchise, with director Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hitting theaters over the weekend. Sad to say, the second chapter in the trilogy fell way short of expectations.
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The Bone Temple opened to an estimated $13 million domestically, with that number expected to grow to $15 million by the end of the Monday MLK Day holiday. That wasn’t even enough to unseat Avatar: Fire and Ash ($13.3 million) for the top spot on its fifth weekend in theaters. Pre-release expectations had the sequel doing closer to $20 million across the full four-day weekend. Even that wouldn’t have been great. This is pretty close to a worst-case scenario for Sony.
28 Years Later opened to $30 million in the U.S. over a three-day weekend, eventually making more than $150 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. The Bone Temple carries a similar budget and opened to $16.2 million overseas, giving it a $31.2 million global start. Needless to say, it’s lagging way behind its predecessor. Without exceptionally long legs, it’s going to have a near impossible time breaking even for Sony at the box office. It will need to rely on VOD and streaming revenue to make up the difference.
Picking up right where the last movie left off, the sequel centers on Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) as he makes a discovery that could change the world as they know it. Meanwhile, Spike (Alfie Williams) is reckoning with the ramifications of his encounter with Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell), which quickly becomes a nightmare he can't escape.
What’s interesting is that The Bone Temple has been met with largely glowing reviews from critics. So, what went wrong? Well, for one, the first movie ended on a pretty bizarre note, which might have put off certain audience members. The sequels were also released just seven months apart, which might have been too much, too soon. Either way, it’s not great, considering Sony has larger plans here.
A third 28 Years Later movie is already in development, one that will bring back Cillian Murphy as Jim from 28 Days Later. If this movie underperforms in the coming weeks, could that compromise plans for the third installment? Or would Sony press ahead anyhow in the hopes that Jim’s return would be appealing enough to audiences?
What we know for sure is that horror fans have lots of options this month, with Primate currently in theaters, Return to Silent Hill on the way and Send Help closing out January. None of that is going to make things any easier on the sequel in terms of finding legs. We’ll have to see how the chips fall.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is in theaters now.
