With a 92% Rotten Tomatoes rating and a more favourable reception from critics, audiences and even fans of the franchise, Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was meant to be a step up from Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, which failed to reach the heights of the first two films in the franchise. Unfortunately, The Bone Temple, which honestly felt like a side-mission rather than a full-on sequel, failed at the box office (making just $58.5 million off a $63 million budget) and, now, on Netflix, too. According to a Nielsen report, more viewers watched Madam Webb and Venom: The Last Dance in their first six days on the streaming platform.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is definitely infected by something strange, as viewers appear to be uninterested in watching the acclaimed zombie flick. The title only had 2.7 million views on Netflix in its first six days in the US. That’s incredibly low considering films like Madame Web, the flopped Sony Spider-Man spin-off, pulled in 10 million views during the same period.
What makes this even more difficult to accept is that the film is actually pretty good. Ralph Fiennes is exceptional as the lead, with Jack O’Connell also delivering a memorable performance. In fact, fans would argue that this is a superior film to Boyle’s 28 Years Later, and on par or only slightly below 28 Weeks Later in terms of story and entertainment.
And the film’s director, Nia DaCosta, thinks so too. Speaking to Empire, she revealed that she was genuinely surprised by the outcome. “It’s so funny, because literally every barometer we use in the industry to determine whether or not a movie is good, and people like it and want to see it, was through the roof, and yet our box office wasn’t there […] We made a great film, and I’m really proud of it, and people liked it,” she said in the interview. She also questions whether The Bone Temple came too soon after 28 Years Later: “Maybe too soon, because people were like, ‘Oh yeah, I saw that last summer!’”
But even though DaCosta is naturally “disappointed” by the film’s reception, she remains proud of it, saying, “I’m so happy that when people find the film, they’re going to enjoy the film. I wish it made more money, but I’m really proud of it.”
Could this be the result of audience fatigue, or did the 2025 post-apocalyptic film put audiences off the franchise? Plenty of people went out to see 28 Years Later – as it made an okay $150 million worldwide. That’s a lot more than The Bone Temple made. But the disappointment with the previous film could have affected the sequel. Fans went to see the film hoping for zombie mayhem. Instead, they got a more reflective horror with fewer thrills and more nudity.
The Bone Temple does offer more of the same. But it does work better here, thanks to Fiennes’ performance.
Streaming platforms usually give failed films a second chance to succeed. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple really doesn’t seem to be doing that.
With reports about a third film in production (and Cillian Murphy possibly returning), Sony really only has two choices left: cut the budget or rethink the franchise moving forward. And they need to do it before the infection spreads any further.
