28 Years Later is soaring at the global box office thanks to positive reviews and an established fanbase, but is it close to breaking even? To understand that, you must first look at the movie’s budget.
It’s no exaggeration to say 28 Days Later didn’t just flip the zombie genre on its head – it changed horror cinema forever. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s tour de force film only had $8 million to work with, but this was used to its advantage.
Grainy digital cameras and guerrilla-style techniques only made it feel terrifyingly real, and these efforts paid off. 28 Days Later earned $82 million worldwide at the box office, and it’s widely regarded to be one of the best horror movies of all time.
But much like the Alpha zombies, 28 Years Later is a different beast altogether. With a larger budget and heightened stakes, the new movie needs to make far more than its predecessor to be considered a success.
How much does 28 Years Later need to make to break even?
28 Years Later has a reported budget of $60 million, making it nearly 10 times more expensive to make than 28 Days Later. This means it needs to make approximately $150 million to break even.
If you’re left scratching your head at this figure, just know that movies generally need to make approximately two-and-a-half times their original budget to break even due to the additional costs such as fees to exhibitors, merchandising, and taxes.
Studios only keep about 50-60% of box office revenue (and less from international markets), and there are also marketing costs to factor in.
As for why the budget is so much higher than 28 Days Later, the first is inflation – the original dropped in 2002, meaning prices have risen. The same can be said for the cast.
Although Cillian Murphy is a huge star now, 28 Days Later was his breakthrough role. 28 Years Later, on the other hand, has big name actors in the cast, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes.
Another significant cost guzzler is the filming technique. The crew used modified iPhone 15 Pro Max cameras to shoot the new movie, adapting them with (expensive) cine lenses and hooking up as many as 20 of the Apple devices on one rig.
Setting up dozens of smartphones with professional-grade accessories, software, and post-production tweaks is a costly endeavor, especially when trying to match the cinematic quality of a big-screen horror epic.
Thanks to its impeccable story and performances, bonkers ending driving word-of-mouth hype, and established fanbase, the results for Boyle’s follow-up are looking very promising.
How much 28 Years Later has made at the box office
Since landing in cinemas on June 20, 2025, 28 Years Later has crossed the $100 million mark in just two weekends, earning more than $103 million at the global box office so far.
Not only is it well on track to break even and beyond, but it also breaks a franchise record, officially becoming the highest-earning movie in the series compared with the first and its divisive follow-up, 28 Weeks Later ($65 million worldwide).
However, these promising signs and solid reviews – it currently has a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score from the critics – haven’t prevented a significant drop-off in domestic sales.
The film made more than $30 million at the domestic box office during its opening, with this total rising to $50 million after the second weekend, marking a 32% drop in earnings.
Its ongoing performance should give some indication as to how 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will fare. The sequel has already been made, with a release date set for January 16, 2026.
Boyle and co. are planning for the new movies to be a trilogy, with a third film to close the series. But the threequel will only go ahead if the first two are successful. We’ll no doubt get a clear picture in the weeks to come.
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