After much hemming and hawing and a little bit of teases about his appearance, Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy has been confirmed for Sony’s “28 Years Later” horror thriller.
Sony chief Tom Rothman revealed the news in a new interview with Deadline. “Yes [Murphy will return], but in a surprising way and in a way that grows, let me put it that way,” Rothman said. “This is Danny at his best, combined with a very commercial genre, like we had with Edgar Wright and ‘Baby Driver.’”
The Danny in question is director Danny Boyle, who directed the original “28 Days Later,” a zombie/pandemic rage-virus movie back in 2002, launching a franchise that went dormant right after its underwhelming sequel, “28 Weeks Later,” which Boyle did not direct and only executive produced. But “28 Days Later” was a huge hit for Boyle, revitalized his career, and launched Cillian Murphy’s.
This belated sequel, “28 Years Later,” reunites the original creative team, Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland (“Civil War”), and now, its original star, “Oppenheimer” lead Murphy, as the cherry on top.
Said to be a two-part film, and potentially even a new trilogy, Nia DaCosta (“The Marvels,” “Candyman”) is apparently slated to direct the second part once Boyle is finished with chapter one.
“28 Years Later” will star Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, and Murphy, reprising his role as patient zero, Jim. It’s unclear how big Murphy’s part will be in the film, especially with such an extensive supporting cast around him, but he is an Oscar winner now, and his presence will only elevate the film.
Rothman, in the interview, also touted “Spider-Man 4” with Tom Holland, “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” and Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing” as some of the next big Sony offerings but didn’t really reveal many details about any of them.
“28 Years Later” is scheduled to be released by Sony Pictures on June 20, 2025. There’s no direct week of competition against it yet, but Disney’s “Elio” and Universal’s live-action “How To Train Your Dragon” open the week before, and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN 2.0” arrives the week after.