A promotion for ‘28 Weeks Later’ in 2007. CREDIT: LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images

‘28 Years Later’ is the most-watched horror trailer of 2024 and second most-watched of all time

The latest movie in the ‘28 Days Later’ franchise, it will be released on June 20 next year

by · NME

28 Years Later is the most-watched horror trailer of 2024 and the second most-watched of all time, it’s been revealed.

The 28 Years Later trailer, which dropped on December 10, amassed an impressive 60.2million global views in its first 24 hours, and 141.6million global views altogether. This makes it the second-biggest trailer of all time, after It Chapter Two, which amassed almost 100million global views in the first 24 hours.

The 28 Years Later trailer beat out the trailers for huge movies including The Nun, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Halloween, and from this year, Smile 2 and Nosferatu.

Deadline has reported that, as a result, Sony is releasing the original 2002 movie 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle, for purchase and rental tomorrow (December 18).

The movie’s development began back in 2007, and after multiple delays, it’s set for release on June 20, 2025. It was shot on iPhones back-to-back with another sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will be produced by Boyle but directed by Nia DaCosta.

While there will have been an almost 20-year gap between the second and third movies, there’s set to be a 28 Years Later trilogy – as producer Andrew Macdonald revealed in August. After The Bone Temple, there’s going to be a third movie.

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28 Years Later is the third movie in the main series following the 2002 movie and its 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, and Cillian Murphy will be returning after his role in the original film. Other actors confirmed include Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes, who are all joining the cast for the first time.

Comer, Taylor-Johnson and Fiennes all appear in the trailer, but Murphy is not included, despite many on social media guessing that he played a zombie-like character present in the clip. Per The Guardian, the character is played by model and art dealer Angus Neill instead.

Cillian Murphy. CREDIT: Marleen Moise/Getty Images

Murphy is also serving as executive producer on the movie, two years after he spoke to NME about a potential return to the franchise. He said at the time: “I think there’s a problem with that, in that I’m 20 years older… but every time I do bump into Danny or Alex [Garland, screenwriter] I always mention it. Because I showed it to my kids recently, some Halloween about four or five years ago, and they loved it. It really stands up, which is amazing for a film that’s 20 years old. So yeah, I love the idea and it’s very appealing to me.”

Per the movie’s official synopsis, “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.”