Despite being one of the most anticipated genre films of 2025, shockingly, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later failed to top the global box-office.
The news came as a surprise to fans and industry experts, both of whom expected the legacy sequel to reign supreme, due to a tremendous promotional push from Sony.
However, 28 Years Later faced tough competition in the form of How to Train Your Dragon. The live-action fantasy adaption has become quite the blockbuster, and held exceptionally well in its second weekend.
Initially projected to gross $40 million during its US debut, 28 Years Later started well, earning $14 million in its first day. Although on-track to take the top spot, things took an unexpected turn through Saturday and Sunday, with profits amounting to an additional $16 million.
Debuting to $30 million domestically, 28 Years Later fell far short of its projected gross, whilst How to Train Your Dragon moved comfortably into first place with $37 million.
The underperformance of Boyle’s film, although unexpected, has been chalked up to box-office competition, and the 28 Days brand being generally less popular in the United States.
To that end, 28 Years Later performed admirably overseas, garnering an additional $30 million, and topping the box-office in regions including the United Kingdom and France.
However, the worldwide opening gross of $60 million, although impressive, was still below expectations. Expected to be the biggest genre opening of the year thus far, 28 Years Later didn’t manage to outperform Final Destination: Bloodlines, despite its much larger promotional push.
It’s entirely possible that Boyle’s film will hold well, given the universal critical praise. So, we’ll have to wait and see how 28 Years Later performs when all is said and done.
Undoubtedly, the underperformance is a blow to Sony, and may affect the planned sequels. We’ll let you know if that should come to pass.
