Movies

’28 Years Later’ Lands at Sony with Cillian Murphy as Producer

Published

3 months ago

January 31, 2024

Sony has acquired the rights to “28 Years Later,” the sequel to “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later,” bringing back Danny Boyle and Alex Garland. The announcement was made today via an update by The Hollywood Reporter, highlighting Sony’s victory in a bidding war for the project.

Cillian Murphy is attached as an executive producer and may also act in the film, although his acting role has not been confirmed. The project will see Garland writing and Boyle directing, with plans for at least one more sequel in the works.

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. Each movie in the series is expected to have a budget of around $60 million. The specifics of the negotiations, including changes in compensation or plans, are not clear. A theatrical release is a priority for the filmmakers.

Regarded as one of the greatest zombie films of all time, this update is very promising for the sequel. 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle, writer Alex Garland, and actor Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Oppenheimer) offered a promising update in a recent interview with both Inverse and Collider.

In a recent interview with Inverse, Garland said “I resisted it for a long time because there were things about 28 Weeks that bugged me. I just thought, ‘F–k that.’ I’d rather try to write a different story in a different world. But a few years ago an idea materialized in my head for what would be really 28 Years Later. Danny always liked the idea.”

Danny Boyle later said “So we’re talking about it quite seriously, quite diligently. If he doesn’t want to direct it himself I’ll be well up for it, if we can execute a similarly good idea.

Then in a recent interview with Collider, Murphy said “I was talking to Danny Boyle recently, and I said, ‘Danny, we shot the movie at the end of 2000.’ So I think we’re definitely approaching the 28 Years Later. But like I’ve always said, I’m up for it. I’d love to do it. If Alex [Garland] thinks there’s a script in it and Danny wants to do it, I’d love to do it.”

28 Days Later was released in 2002 and follows the story of Jim (Cillian Murphy) who wakes up in a coma only to find that the city he is in is deserted. He later comes to find out that a mysterious aggression-inducing virus has swept through the United Kingdom and has turned everyone into flesh-eating zombies. The first film was a financial success, making $84.6M on an $8M Budget. It has been regarded as one of the best zombie films in the genre and the success ended up spawning a sequel called 28 Weeks Later.

28 Weeks Later was released in 2007, but it did not bring back Boyle to direct, Garland to write, and Murphy did not return. The film was not as successful as the first one and only brought in $65.8M on a $15M budget. Still regarded as a decent sequel to fans, it never did catch the greatness of the first film. This ultimately put a third movie on halt and had many failed attempts.

This is very promising news and a big jump on moving forward with this sequel. Are you excited that this film is closer to happening and that it will follow the story of the first film? Do you prefer the title 28 Months Later or 28 Years Later? Let us know in the comments below. Also, check out the trailers for the first 2 films below.

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Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

18 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

^{High Desert Hell}

^{The Gemini Project}

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Movies

Fede Alvarez Teases ‘Alien: Romulus’ With RC Facehugger

Published

19 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Happy Alien Day! To celebrate director Fede Alvarez who is helming the latest sequel in the Alien franchise Alien: Romulus, got out his toy Facehugger in the SFX workshop. He posted his antics on Instagram with the following message:

“Playing with my favorite toy on set of #AlienRomulus last summer. RC Facehugger created by the amazing team from @wetaworkshop Happy #AlienDay everybody!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fede Alvarez (@iamfedealvarez)

To commemorate the 45th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie, April 26 2024 has been designated as Alien Day, with a re-release of the film hitting theaters for a limited time.

Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the franchise and is currently in post-production with a scheduled theatrical release date of August 16, 2024.

In other news from the Alien universe, James Cameron has been pitching fans the boxed set of Aliens: Expanded a new documentary film, and a collection of merch associated with the movie with pre-sales ending on May 5.

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Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

20 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

^{Happy Sad Confused}

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.