28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British science fiction horror film, structured as a sequel to the critical and commercial success, 28 Days Later (2002). 28 Weeks Later was co-written and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, with Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, director and writer of 28 Days Later respectively, now acting as executive producers. It was released in the United Kingdom and United States on 11 May 2007. The plot depicts the efforts of NATO military forces to salvage a safe zone in London following the events in 28 Days Later, the consequence of two young siblings breaking protocol to find their infected mother, and the resulting reintroduction of the highly contagious virus to the safe zone.

Plot

During the original outbreak of the Rage Virus, Don, his wife Alice, and four other survivors hide in a barricaded cottage on the outskirts of London. They hear a terrified boy pounding at their door and let him in. A few minutes later, they discover that the infected have followed the boy to them. The infected attack and kill most of the survivors, while Don, Alice, and the boy are chased upstairs. Don pleads with Alice to abandon the boy, but she refuses. He abandons them as the infected break into their room by busting out of the window. Don desperately sprints to a nearby motorboat, narrowly escaping after a tussle with a recently turned survivor.

After the infected begin to die of starvation, NATO forces take control of Great Britain. Twenty-eight weeks after the outbreak, an American-led force, under the command of Brigadier General Stone, brings in settlers. Among the new arrivals are Don and Alice's children, Tammy and Andy, who were out of the country during the outbreak. They are admitted to District One, a safe zone on the Isle of Dogs guarded by the U.S. Army. Sergeant Doyle, a U.S. Delta Force Sniper and his friend, Chief Flynn, a helicopter pilot, are amongst the military presence in charge of guarding the district. Tammy and Andy are reunited with their father, who was found by the U.S. Army and has become the district's caretaker. In their new flat, Don fabricates a lie about the circumstances surrounding their mother's death.

That night, Andy dreams about forgetting his mother's face, so Tammy and Andy sneak out of the safe zone, and return to their former home, where they begin to collect family photographs and other mementos. To his shock, Andy finds Alice alive and uninfected in a semi-conscious, delirious state. The three are soon discovered by soldiers and taken back to District One. Alice is taken to a quarantine room, where she is tested and found to be an asymptomatic carrier of the rage virus. Don makes an unauthorised visit to Alice in her isolation cell, begging her to forgive him. She accepts his apology and tells him she loves him. However, when they kiss, Don is infected, savagely kills her, and goes on a rampage.

General Stone orders the building to be quarantined and District One to be put into Code Red lockdown. Civilians are herded into safe rooms, but despite the precautions, Don breaks into a room containing a large crowd and starts a domino effect of rapid infection. The mob - now with half its members infected - breaks out of the safe room and into the streets. Scarlet, a U.S. Army medical officer, rescues Tammy and Andy as the soldiers in District One are ordered to shoot indiscriminately. Doyle, unable to bring himself to comply with the order, abandons his post and escapes with Scarlet, Tammy, Andy, and several others through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. General Stone orders District One to be firebombed, but large numbers of the infected, including Don, escape the bombardment. Scarlet informs Doyle that the children might hold the key to a cure and must be protected at all costs. Flynn arrives by helicopter to pick up Doyle, but he refuses to take anyone else, as they would be shot down for carrying people who are possibly infected.

Flynn contacts Doyle by radio and tells him to head to Wembley Stadium, but to leave the civilians. Doyle ignores his instructions and escorts Andy, Tammy and Scarlet to Wembley. They break into an abandoned Volvo V70 to escape nerve gas released to kill the infected, but are unable to start the car while soldiers with flamethrowers draw near. Doyle exits the car and sacrifices himself by push starting the car and is subsequently roasted alive. Scarlet escapes an Apache gunship and drives Tammy and Andy into the London Underground, where the trio continues on foot. Don ambushes and kills Scarlet, then bites Andy. Tammy shoots Don before he can kill Andy, who remains symptom-free but an unknown carrier of the Rage virus. They continue to the stadium and are picked up by a reluctant Flynn, who flies them across the English Channel to France, as previously instructed by Doyle.

Twenty-eight days later, a French-accented voice requesting help is heard from the radio in Flynn's abandoned helicopter. A group of the infected are then seen running through a tunnel which, as they emerge into the open, is revealed to be the exit of the Paris Métro Trocadéro Station with a view of the nearby Eiffel Tower.

Cast

• Robert Carlyle as Don
• Rose Byrne as Scarlet
• Jeremy Renner as Doyle
• Harold Perrineau as Flynn
• Catherine McCormack as Alice
• Mackintosh Muggleton as Andy
• Imogen Poots as Tammy
• Idris Elba as Stone

Production

Pre-production

We were quite taken aback by the phenomenal success of the first film, particularly in America. We saw an opportunity to make a second film that already had a built in audience. We thought it would be a great idea to try and satisfy that audience again.

— Danny Boyle on 28 Weeks Later, ^[2]

In 2003, plans for the film were conceived after the international success of 28 Days Later. Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and Alex Garland stated that they felt the time was right to make a sequel.^[2]

In March 2005, Boyle said in an interview that he would not direct the sequel due to commitments to Sunshine (2007), but he would serve as executive producer. He also revealed that the film would revolve around the aftermath of the first movie.^[3] It was also revealed that the film would include the US Army "declaring the war against infection had been won, and that the reconstruction of the country could begin."^[4] Boyle hired Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to helm the project after seeing Fresnadillo's 2001 film Intacto.^[5] Fresnadillo stated that he was "thrilled working on his first English language film alongside such an exciting international cast and talented production team."^[6]

Both Fresnadillo and Lopez-Lavigne were involved in writing the script, which revolved around a family and what happened to them in the aftermath of the original film, which the producers "liked a lot".^[7]

Casting details

Boyle said in March 2005 that the sequel would feature a new cast, since previous cast members Cillian Murphy, Megan Burns, and Naomie Harris were occupied with their own projects.^[3] On 23 August 2006, Jeremy Renner was announced to portray Doyle, one of the principal characters for 28 Weeks Later.^[8] On 31 August 2006, Harold Perrineau was announced to portray a US Special Forces pilot in the film.^[9]

Filming

On 1 September 2006, principal photography for 28 Weeks Later began in London^[10] with much of the filming taking place at Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, the safe zone in the film's plot.

The on-location filming took place in London and 3 Mills Studios, although scenes intended to be shot at Wembley Stadium, then undergoing final stages of a major reconstruction, were filmed instead in Wales, with Cardiff's Millennium Stadium used as a replacement.^[11]

Promotion

Biohazard warning

On 13 April 2007, 28 days before the release of the film in UK cinemas, a huge biohazard warning sign was projected against the White Cliffs of Dover.^[12] The sign contained the international biological hazard symbol, along with the admonition that Britain was "contaminated, keep out!"

Graphic novel

In July 2006, Fox Atomic Comics and publisher HarperCollins announced the publication, in early 2007, of 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, a graphic novel bridging the gap between 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later.^[13] Motion comics of two segments of the graphic novel were added to the DVD & Blu-ray release of 28 Weeks Later.^[14]

Viral advertising

Removable chalk-powder graffiti was sprayed in locations around London and Birmingham featuring the web address www.ragevirus.com. However, the web address was found to be unregistered and was quickly snapped up. The advertising agency who made the mistake agreed to purchase the rights to the domain name for an undisclosed sum.^[15]

Prop giveaway

In April 2007, the horror/science-fiction film website Bloody Disgusting promoted 28 Weeks Later by giving readers a chance to win a prop from the film. The props were included in a "District 1 Welcome Pack", which featured an ID card and an edition of the London Evening Standard newspaper with a headline proclaiming the evacuation. The giveaway was only open to residents of North America, and entries closed on 9 May 2007.^[16]

Flash game

In May 2007, 20th Century Fox posted a free 28 Weeks Later-themed flash game on their international website, foxinternational.com.^[17] In the game, the player can play one of the infected in three parts of the city.

Reception

28 Weeks Later gained generally positive reviews.^[18] The film has generated a "fresh" rating of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 187 reviews (132 fresh, 55 rotten).^[19] View London called the film an "exciting, action-packed and superbly directed thriller that more than lives up to the original film".^[20] The New York Times's A. O. Scott wrote that "28 Weeks Later is brutal and almost exhaustingly terrifying, as any respectable zombie movie should be. It is also bracingly smart, both in its ideas and in its techniques."^[21]

The film opened in 2,000 cinemas across the United States.^[22] It made $9.8 million in its opening weekend, coming in second place at the box office, behind Spider-Man 3. The film has grossed $28.6 million in the US and $35.6 million in other countries, bringing the worldwide total to $64.2 million.^[23]

1.3 million DVD units have been sold in the United States, gathering a revenue of $24.3 million, as of July 2010.^[24] The film has been released as its own DVD and as a double feature with 28 Days Later.

Soundtrack

Main article: 28 Weeks Later: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

28 Weeks Later: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was composed, written and performed by John Murphy. The score was released exclusively to iTunes on 12 June 2007. On 2 June 2009, a limited edition soundtrack was released by La-La Land Records. Only 1500 copies were made.^[25]

The film's theatrical trailer featured the songs "Want" (Witchman) and "Shrinking Universe" (Muse).

Sequel

Fox Atomic stated in June 2007 that they would consider producing a third film if DVD sales of the film did well.^[26] In July 2007, while promoting Sunshine, Boyle said he had a possible story for the next film. "There is an idea for the next one, something which would move the story on. I've got to think about it, whether it's right or not."^[27] In October 2010, when Alex Garland was asked what was happening with 28 Months Later, he declared: "I'll answer that completely honestly. When we made 28 Days Later, the rights were frozen between a group of people who are no longer talking to each other. And so, the film is never going to happen unless those people start talking to each other again. There is no script as far as I'm aware."^[28] In January 2011, Danny Boyle said, "There is a good idea for it, and once I've got [my stage production of] Frankenstein open, I'll begin to think about it a bit more."^[29] On 13 April 2013, Boyle stated: "[I]t’s 40/60 whether [a sequel] happens or not. But we did have an idea of where to set it and what it might be about." When asked to share that idea, Boyle laughed and said, "No, because they’ll end up in The Walking Dead."^[30] On 14 January 2015, Garland stated: "We’ve just started talking about it seriously. We’ve got an idea. Danny [Boyle] and [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] and I have been having quite serious conversations about it so it is a possibility. It’s complicated. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why it’s complicated, which are boring so I won’t go into, but there’s a possibility," also adding: "It’s more likely to be 28 Months than 28 Years. 28 months gives you one more place to go," hinting at the possibility of a fourth film as well.^[31]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: 28 Weeks Later

• Official website
• 28 Weeks Later at the Internet Movie Database
• 28 Weeks Later at AllMovie
• 28 Weeks Later at Rotten Tomatoes
• 28 Weeks Later at Box Office Mojo
• 28 Weeks Later at Metacritic
• Homepage of 20th Century Fox International