EXCLUSIVE: The 24-hour traffic for the 28 Years Later trailer was so massive, that in response, Sony is releasing the original 2002 Danny Boyle directed zombie movie, 28 Days Later on digital Dec. 18 for purchase and rental. This is all because of the rabid fan response. 28 Years Later is a follow-up to 28 Days Later.
Not only was the 28 Years Later trailer the most watched horror trailer in 2024 at 60.2M global views, but it’s also the second biggest trailer of all-time behind It Chapter Two (96M views, $91M opening). Currently, the 28 Years Later trailer has racked up 146.1M global views.
In addition, the viewership for 28 Years Later was higher than the first trailer drops of The Nun (55.4M, $53.8M opening), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (55.2M, $24.1M) and Halloween (51.6M, $76.2M opening), as well as from this year, Smile 2 (33.1M views, $23M opening) and Nosferatu (26.4M views).
Duly note these figures come from WaveMetrix and do not include TikTok views. Why? Because a studio trailer buy on TikTok can erratically mushroom viewing stats. Back out TikTok, keeps the competitive social media measuring field equal.
The 28 horror franchise were originally released respectively by Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic labels at the former 20th Century Fox, the two films grossing a near combined $150M at the global box office. Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris starred in 28 Days Later, while Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner and Robert Carlye starred in the sequel, 28 Weeks Later.
Sony prevailed in winning the revamped franchise 28 Years Later with Boyle reteaming with scribe Alex Garland and star Murphy with Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell joining. The budget for the new movies are in the range of $75 million. In addition to Boyle and Garland, producers on 28 Years include Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures. Garland is penning each installment in the new franchise.
The original 28 Days Later takes place in a world where animal rights activists have freed a group of infected chimpanzees to horrifying results. Murphy’s bicycle courier wakes up from a coma in a deserted London hospital 28 days later to find that the world has been overrun with zombies.