28 Days Later director (Danny Boyle) and writer (Alex Garland) have re-teamed up for a series of sequels to the 2002 horror hit, and following yesterday's poster, the first teaser for the first film in the planned trilogy, 28 Years Later, has been released online.
The promo is only a few seconds long, but does contain some nightmarish imagery, including one quick shot of a rather freaky-looking scarecrow (something tells us it's made from more than just straw) with an arrow in its head. Also, the morse code repeats the word "Tuesday," indicating that a full trailer will be with us early next week.
Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes have signed on to play the lead roles, and it's also been confirmed that Cillian Murphy will return as the original movie's protagonist, Jim.
"Yes, but in a surprising way and in a way that grows, let me put it that way," Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman said when asked if Murphy would return in a recent interview. "This is Danny [Boyle] at his best, combined with a very commercial genre, like we had with Edgar Wright and Baby Driver. Sometimes when you put a real signature director into a commercial arena, it elevates it."
We don't know how substantial Murphy's part will be, but it sounds like he may only have a small role in the first movie and then more to do in the follow-ups.
Check out the teaser below.
28 Days Later was a massive success, and already spawned one less well-regarded (but still well worth watching) follow-up in 2007's 28 Weeks Later. Boyle and Garland were only involved as executive producers on that project, so a lot of fans are sure to view this new movie as the first true sequel.
Boyle will helm the first instalment, while Nia DaCosta was recently announced as the second film's - reportedly titled 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple - director. The plan is to shoot both back-to-back. Garland will write all three. The budget for each movie is said to be in the $75 million range.
The first film starred Murphy as a man who wakes from a coma after a bicycle accident to find that England has been overrun by "The Infected." The virus turns its victims into raging killers, but unlike the usual "zombies," these creatures can move with frightening speed. The man then sets out to learn what's been going on, meeting fellow survivors played by Naomie Harris and Brendan Gleeson along the way, as well as a deranged army major played by Christopher Eccleston.
Plot details for 28 Years Later are still under wraps, but the timeframe would suggest that it will take place in a near-future setting, which means the movie might lean more towards sci-fi than straight-up horror.
"A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research lab. When London bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma a month after, he finds his city all but deserted. On the run from the zombie-like victims of the Rage, Jim stumbles upon a group of survivors, including Selena (Naomie Harris) and cab driver Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and joins them on a perilous journey to what he hopes will be safety."