More than two decades after the release of 28 Days Later, the third installment in the zombie-apocalypse film franchise has been released. 28 Years Later picks up almost three decades after the release of a dangerous virus that turned humans into zombie-like creatures that plagued the streets of London.
28 Years Later tells the post-apocalyptic story of a group of survivors on a small island from which a father and his son leave and discover what has happened to the outside world.
Here’s how much the first two films in the iconic British zombie franchise have made at the box office.
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A quick overview of the 28 Days Later franchise
Each movie in the 28 Days Later franchise has its own storyline, and the main characters are different in each film. Here’s a synopsis of each film in the trilogy, which spans more than two decades.
28 Days Later
The series’ first film, released in 2002, centers around a few survivors. Jim is a bicycle courier played by Cillian Murphy (who won the Best Actor award at the Oscars for the titular role in Oppenheimer in 2023). Naomie Harris (who played Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond films opposite Daniel Craig’s 007) portrays Selena, who saves Jim from the infected before the two travel together.
The film focuses on the aftermath of the Rage virus that was accidentally released by a group of animal-rights activists from a medical research laboratory testing monkeys. After nearly a month of the initial infection, this group encounters other survivors whose outlook on survival differs from theirs.
28 Weeks Later
The second film, released in 2007, takes place more than half a year after the initial release of the virus and is a follow-up to the events of 28 Days Later, but with different characters and a different story.
In the U.K., survivors are rounded up to live in an area in central London controlled by the U.S. military. One infected person infiltrates the compound, and a group of survivors attempts to flee the city on foot.
28 Years Later
The third film focuses on survivors who live on a small island in the 28 years after the virus infected the general population of the U.K.
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Where can I watch 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later?
28 Days Later can be viewed without a paid subscription on Pluto TV and on paid streaming services, including Amazon Prime. 28 Weeks Later is available on Hulu, which requires a subscription plan, but it can also be streamed for free on Tubi.
What is the budget for 28 Years Later?
The budget for 28 Years Later is modest compared to other much-anticipated movies of 2025, such as Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. The reported budget for 28 Years Later is $75 million, the highest among the movies in the trilogy.
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Every 28 Days Later film by revenue and budget
Each of the 28 Days Later movies in the trilogy has made more than $100 million, in inflation-adjusted 2025 dollars. The first two films have made a combined total of $234 million on modest budgets.
Here’s how each 28 Days Later film has performed at the box office based on data compiled by Box Office Mojo, which tracks movie revenue at theaters. Box office revenues in parentheses are adjusted for inflation.
28 Days Later
- Global box office gross receipts: $74 million ($134 million in 2025)
- Budget: $8 million
- Release Date: February 29, 2002
- Director: Danny Boyle
28 Weeks Later
- Global box office gross receipts: $65 million ($100 million in 2025)
- Budget: $15 million
- Release Date: May 9, 2007
- Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
28 Years Later
- Global box office gross receipts: ?
- Budget: $75 million
- Release Date: June 20, 2025
- Director: Danny Boyle
Who stars in 28 Years Later?
The first two films featured actors who weren’t widely known at the time — including Murphy, Harris, Rose Byrne, and Jeremy Renner — and who later went on to take leading roles in popular films. In 28 Years Later, the film features established stars, including Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes.
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Who is the director of 28 Years Later?
Danny Boyle returns to direct the third installment of the 28 Days Later franchise, after helming the first film. After 28 Days Later, Boyle became an in-demand director, heading up notable films including Slumdog Millionaire (2008), a film about an economically struggling teenager trying to answer trivia questions on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He also directed 127 Hours (2010), a true story about a stranded hiker’s fight for survival, and Yesterday (2019), a movie about a musician’s shift to an alternative life in a world without the Beatles.
28 Years Later also marks the return of Alex Garland, who was the writer of the first film.
Which companies are behind the release of 28 Years Later?
Columbia Pictures is one of the big companies that produced 28 Years Later. Sony Pictures Releasing is distributing the film.
28 Days Later’s legacy on film and TV
28 Days Later helped to revive interest in a genre that first started decades earlier. George A. Romeo was among the first filmmakers about zombies, putting out Night of the Living Dead in 1968 and follow-up films over the next 40 years.
Boyle helped to bring back interest in the genre with 28 Days Later, which featured fast-moving zombies, in an engaging, dramatic storyline. The film has been highly influential on subsequent zombie media, and its themes have permeated countless other movies and TV shows.
In one of the opening scenes of the first movie, Cillian Murphy’s character wakes up to a deserted London at the dawn of the zombie apocalypse. It’s a scene that’s been replicated by other characters on other movies and television shows, including Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, in the popular The Walking Dead series, which first aired in 2010.
Other zombie-related films, ranging from horror and drama to comedy, included World War Z (2013), Zombieland (2009), and Train to Busan (2016). Popular TV shows included Black Summer (2019), Z Nation (2014), and Ash vs Evil Dead (2015).
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