Horror at the Box Office: 28 Years Later Rages Into Runner Up Spot
Notching a solid opening weekend debut, 28 Years Later grossed an estimated $30 million at the domestic box office. That earned it the #2 spot for the weekend. The threequel is the third 2025 horror movie to finish #2 in its debut. The others are The Monkey and Heart Eyes. Only Sinners and Final Destination: Bloodlines have opened at #1 so far this year.
28 Years Later also grossed $30 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $60 million. The film’s budget was also $60 million, so this is a promising start.
Sony Pictures is likely relieved. They bet big on this movie, the first in the franchise since 28 Weeks Later (2007). In fact, Sony has already produced this film’s sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), and they have plans for an eventual fifth film.
Although they’ve developed a substantial following, the 28 Days series has never been a huge winner at the box office compared to major franchises like Scream and Final Destination. This new installment will easily become the highest grossing of the franchise.
The only other horror movie in the top ten this weekend was Final Destination: Bloodlines at #9. It grossed approximately $1.9 million for a domestic total of about $135 million. The hit slasher is now streaming, so it should be bowing out of theaters soon.
As expected, Sinners‘ long run in the top ten finally came to an end. It finished 13th with $820,000 for a towering $277 million total. Bring Her Back finished 15th with $387,000 for a tepid total of just under $19 million.
Looking Ahead
M3gan 2.0 finally rampages into the theaters on Friday. It’s a totally different type of horror movie than 28 Years Later. I’m not sure how much overlap there will be in terms of viewer interest in both. It’ll be interesting to see how the sequel’s approach, which appears to differ substantially from the original, will be received by audiences.
Credit to Box Office Mojo for the figures cited.
