Sony’s “28 Years Later” is struggling to keep momentum in its second weekend, projected to land in fifth place at the box office with a steep 70% drop from its debut.
Danny Boyle’s sequel earned just $3M on Friday, and is now on track for a $9M weekend haul, bringing its domestic total to $49M and $90M worldwide after 10 days of release.
Despite glowing reviews, the film simply isn’t connecting with general audiences in the way Sony had hoped. That low 64% user rating on Rotten Tomatoes stick out, and the PostTrak numbers were in the 50s.
With a reported $75M production budget —not including marketing— “28 Years Later” is no doubt in peril of not having the trilogy capper greenlit. Sony had banked on the film launching a new trilogy, and the follow-up, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” which already wrapped filming, is currently set for release in January.
The third and final entry, which Boyle has hinted would close the trilogy for good, remains unfunded by Sony. Whether it gets made will hinge entirely on how this first installment performs over the next few weeks—right now, the numbers aren’t trending in its favor.
Boyle has even stated that Cillian Murphy would be lead on the third film, no doubt as a way to sell the entire thing to not just audiences, but Sony head honcho Tom Rothman. Will the latter take the bait? Remains to be seen. The script still hasn’t been written.
“28 Years Later” perfectly illustrates the divide between critics and general audiences. Its refusal to function as a typical legacy sequel is both its strength and its downfall. On one hand, it’s refreshing to see a sequel take bold risks rather than lean on familiar IP tropes. On the other, mainstream viewers tend to crave cinematic comfort food — and this film, with its loose, anti-plot structure, offers anything but.
Of course, we all know the rule: take these reactions with a grain of salt rather than treating them as gospel. Still, I will say that the film tested like gangbusters earlier this year, and Lionsgate clearly has confidence.