The first trailer for Danny Boyle's long-awaited threequel, 28 Years Later, released online last week to a very positive response (some hailed it as the trailer of the year), and Deadline has now shared some surprising stats
Not only was the intense teaser the most watched horror trailer of 2024 with 60.2M global views, but it has also become the second-biggest trailer of all-time behind It Chapter Two with a whopping 146.1M global views.
As effective as the trailer may have been, there's a chance it wracked-up so many views due to curiosity surrounding one quick shot of an emaciated zombie that fans speculated could be Cillian Murphy's character from the first movie, Jim.
It was a reasonable enough theory given the amount of time that's passed since the first movie and the fact that the infected are said to have "evolved," although bringing an actor of Murphy's calibre and status back just to play a mindless monster would have been an odd choice.
Also, a set photo of Murphy as a very-much-alive and human-looking Jim did the rounds when the film was shooting earlier this year (though there was always a chance this was for a flashback scene).
At any rate, a crew member who worked on the film recently put an end to the speculation, and art dealer Angus Neill later revealed that he was actually the actor who played the zombie.
You can have another look at the trailer below.
Star Ralph Fiennes revealed the basic premise during an interview with IndieWire earlier this year.
“It centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.”
You can check out Sony's official synopsis below.
"It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well."
Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, 28 Years Later is produced by Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice, Bernard Bellew, Boyle, and Garland. Cillian Murphy executive produces. The cast also includes Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams.
The movie is set to hit theaters on June 20, 2025.