The $48 million worldwide taking for 28 Weeks Later may not be enough for the sequel 28 Months Later to be greenlit says Bloody Disgusting.
The site claim that they have heard from various development sources that the only horror movie being made currently at Fox Atomic is Hideo Nakata’s The Entity, and unless DVD sales really take off for the zombie thriller, then there won’t be a third movie in the franchise as Atomic are looking at other genres for development.
Interestingly, they also claim that 28 Years Later was also planned which could have been a superb movie. A futuristic zombie movie is something we haven’t really seen before and for this series, the sky is pretty much the limit on what they could do with the movie.
This is a bit of a shame then because 28 Weeks Later has been one of my favourite films of the year so far and there’s still some untapped potential in the series. I loved how the last movie ended and I wanna see where the series is headed towards.
Fingers crossed the DVD sells like hotcakes and another movie won’t be too far away.
3 Comments
It’s a real shame if this doesn’t happen. Everyone who I know who saw 28 Weeks really enjoyed it, so it’s a bit of a surprise to me it didn’t do so well.
I blame the timing of release for 28 Weeks Later. Same as Hostel 2. Yeah, I know, 1408, a horror film (A STEPHEN KING horror film, no less) finished number two at the box office. But that’s a freaking anomaly, never to be repeated. The season’s too damned crowded, and with anticipation eating up the dollars it’s hard as hell to get anyone to check out movies who’s genre is playing “out of season,” as it were.
Twentieth Century Fox’s “Fox Atomic” is trying to do what the Weinsteins’ and Lion’s gate have done. Low investment for high-return. Let’s face it, that the only reason they even look at “independent” movies. What the studios themselves want are “tentpole movies.”
If they could reduce the budget for a 28 Months Later, who knows? They might -big might- change Fox’s minds. But that’s doubtful.
Yeah, the problem is the timing. I remember when Land Of The Dead came out and ‘underperformed’ a couple of years ago, to the extent that Romero said he was thinking of giving up. Then, the DVD came out and all of a sudden it was a success and the sequel was greenlit immediately.
It’s not rocket science – the core audience for 28 Weeks Later, Hostel 2, etc. is relatively small, and it’s difficult for a cult/horror movie to get wide exposure during the summer blockbuster season. Most (like me) are probably waiting for the DVD release closer to the more appropriate Halloween season. I’m buying both of the aforementioned movies when they come out, but I haven’t had chance to check them out on the big screen.