Cillian Murphy is red hot right now. That’s what an Oscar nomination for the hit film Oppenheimer will do for ya. And it’s also why Sony just backed up the money truck to acquire Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later, the continuation of their zombie franchise.
So here’s the thing; Murphy is only aboard as a producer…for now. But there’s a chance he could appear in the film, having originally starred in the original, 28 Days Later, back in 2002. That movie was a critical favorite, which then launched a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, that wasn’t as well-regarded.
Sony won a bidding war that saw them going against Warner Bros. in the final two. They’ll look to give this sequel a budget of around $60M, and if it does well, another sequel will follow. That’s roughly four times the budget of 28 Weeks Later, which did not have Murphy, Boyle, or Garland attached.
The reunion of Boyle and Garland is a pretty big deal. They had a falling out and went their separate ways for years, with both having well-established filmmaking careers. Garland has been talking about getting out of filmmaking following his latest, Civil War, but it seems he’s down to keep writing.
All of that said, 28 Years Later has a much better shot at being the biggest hit of the franchise if Murphy is in front of cameras. [THR]
