The streaming numbers on Nia DaCosta’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” just dropped—and they’re not pretty.
According to Nielsen, “The Bone Temple” pulled in just 2.7M views in its first six days on Netflix in the U.S. That’s very underwhelming—borderline alarming—especially considering its predecessor, “28 Years Later,” performed far better, with hopes that DaCosta’s sequel would find its audience on streaming.
When stacked against other recent Sony streaming arrivals, ‘The Bone Temple’ garnered nearly four times fewer views than “Madame Web,” which hit 10M, while “Venom: The Last Dance” reached 8.4M in a comparable window.
The narrative around ‘The Bone Temple’ has been bizarre from the start. Great reviews, strong filmmaker and screenwriter pedigree, and yet—zero traction. No audience found. Its theatrical run was a disaster: $25M domestic, $57M worldwide, against a reported $63M budget (and Sony has a tendency to lowball those figures, so the real number may be higher).
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. As I wrote back in February, the foundation was shaky long before release. “28 Years Later”—Danny Boyle’s long-awaited return to the franchise—was already a tonal curveball. Less zombie movie, more existential meditation. It made decent money ($150M worldwide) but clearly alienated the broader audience expecting a visceral horror revival.
‘The Bone Temple’ doubled down on that approach, and the outcome feels almost preordained. The “token moviegoer”—the one studios actually need—checked out. It’s a shame, because I actually quite liked the film. It takes real risks, but maybe that was the problem—it sacrifices fan service in favor of artistic ambition.
Now, before “The Bone Temple” even hit theaters, reports indicated that a third film had already been greenlit—a trilogy capper starring Cillian Murphy. At the time, it felt more like strategy—a way to prop up the sequel by signaling, “Hey, this matters. Stick with us.” Regardless, in my February report, multiple sources suggested that Sony Pictures was in no rush to move forward with the third film, and that the announcement last December was more PR than firm commitment.
I even suggested that—given the strong numbers Boyle’s film did on the platform—Netflix should acquire and become the home for the third film. However, now that “The Bone Temple” has underperformed there as well, they might not even be interested.
Streaming was supposed to save “The Bone Temple.” This is where underperforming theatrical titles often find redemption—a broader audience, a second life, a chance to reframe the narrative.
That didn’t happen here.
Mass audience interest simply isn’t there for this franchise anymore. Either they slash the budget for the next instalment—which seems unlikely, especially with Murphy’s involvement—or they scrap the entire thing.
