Twenty-two years after the original film and 17 years after the sequel, a belated third film in the “28 Days Later” virus rage franchise is finally being made. Even better, original director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland are reuniting for the project, their first collaboration in over 15 years. Fans who love the series could even rejoice more; this new plan could launch a new trilogy of films.
According to THR, the package of this “28 Days Later” sequel and plan of trilogies with Boyle and Garland attached is going out to various studios and streamers this week, so we should probably expect a big bidding war ahead (evidently, Searchlight Pictures who released the original two zombie/virus thrillers don’t hold the ongoing rights). “28 Weeks Later” arrived in 2007 with Garland as the writer, but by then, Boyle had moved on to other projects and was just an executive producer on the project. That installment in the franchise had an early appearance by Jeremy Renner and Rose Byrne (then both mostly unknown) but didn’t seem to please many of the filmmakers involved.
Boyle is attached to direct film one, Garland will write all three movies, and the budget for each is being eyed at around $75 million a piece. The duo had a great run of acclaimed sci-fi thrillers and dramas in the early aughts, “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000 and “28 Days Later” in 2002. Still, “Sunshine” in 2007 seemingly severed their relationship; Garland apparently unhappy with the direction of that film vs. his writing.
Frustrated, Garland would go on to launch his own writer/directing career with “Ex Machina” (2014), “Annihilation” (2018), “Men” (2022), and this year’s upcoming A24 political drama, “Civil War.”
’28 Days’ starred Cillian Murphy, the now-celebrated star of “Oppenheimer,” but back then, it was one of his earliest roles. Regardless, the franchise is known for resurrecting the zombie genre, even though the filmmakers have always insisted it’s been more of a virus movie.
While the two, Boyle and Garland, fell out for a few years, talk of a “28 Months Later” would surface every few years, but nothing would happen. At one point, Garland vowed he would never be involved in another ’28 Days Later’ film, but time heals all wounds (in 2015, he said he had written a script, but that would be it, and Boyle described a “lovely idea” brewing from Garland in 2022).
Over the years, Boyle has suggested he knew Garland’s idea for the film and had noted it as a radical departure—possibly the reason the film never got made. It’s unclear if that’s still the same idea Garland will write or if he’s latched onto a new idea that will spawn a new trilogy.