Why 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Disappointed At The Box Office

Warning: Major spoilers for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple ahead28 Years Later resurrected the beloved 28 Days Later franchise, breathing new life into the Rage Virus-infected world that horror fans revere while maintaining some of the best elements of what made the franchise a cornerstone in the first place. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple did what many thought was impossible by improving upon its predecessor's Certified Fresh 88% Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Bone Temple achieved the franchise's best scores from both a critic and audience perspective, yet all of that acclaim didn't translate to box office success. Its domestic opening was an underwhelming $12.5 million, leaving the movie well short of its reported $63 million budget. While the positive review scores, viral needle drops, and stunning cliffhanger ending may yield more legs as word-of-mouth spreads, it seems all but guaranteed The Bone Temple comes in short of 28 Years Later.

With such stunning scores and significant social media buzz, it's somewhat baffling that it would disappoint so thoroughly at the box office. However, there are a number of factors that came together to sink The Bone Temple, which could call the planned trilogy's finale into question.

The January 2026 Release Hurt Its Potential

January is typically considered a "dump month" for the movie industry, where studios will typically push out movies that they don't necessarily feel have huge potential or that they don't have faith in. The reason January gets the designation is that there are several elements working against the box office. Spending fatigue from the holiday season, cold and inclement weather, and even major sporting events in primetime can play a role at keeping people away from the theater.

In that regard, releasing The Bone Temple in the dead-middle of January put it at a disadvantage from the start. On top of that, the release date was roughly half a year after the release of its predecessor, leaving virtually no time for an audience to build beyond those who saw it in theaters initially. It had a run on Netflix which certainly opened it to a wider audience, but there simply wasn't enough time to truly build any sort of hype for the sequel.

It Lacked The Nostalgia Appeal of 28 Years Later

The movie itself was also lacking in one of the biggest assets of 28 Years Later: nostalgia. The promise of Alex Garland and Danny Boyle, the writer/director combo responsible for what is regarded by many as the greatest zombie movie of all time, collaborating on a return to the world they built was immensely exciting for fans of the franchise, and of the genre in general.

28 Years Later came 18 years after the most recent entry in the franchise, and despite its long gestation period, it seemed at times that we would never actually get a continuation beyond 28 Weeks Later. With more than two years of build since the formal announcement and six months of hype between the first trailer and the release date, 28 Years Later had all the momentum in the world.

Conversely, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple had Nia DaCosta behind the camera instead of Danny Boyle, leaving some fans nervous that the result could be similar to the maligned 28 Weeks Later (directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo). While DaCosta's vision turned out to be outstanding, her attachment to the high-profile MCU flop The Marvels likely scared some moviegoers off.

Fan Backlash From 28 Years Later May Have Lost Some Of The Audience

Perhaps the most significant contributor to the box office dip from 28 Years Later to The Bone Temple is the mixed reception among moviegoers for the risks taken in the original movie. The scene most frequently referred to as problematic was the extreme, jarring tonal shift of the ending, in which Jack O'Connell's Jimmy Crystal and his Fingers save Spike from the Infected.

Of course, those who stuck it out for The Bone Temple certainly understand why such a tonal shift made sense in the grander scheme of the trilogy. However, at that moment, it was easy to understand why some fans might have been disillusioned. The emotional shift from Jodie Comer's final scene in 28 Years Later to the first appearance of the Jimmies is certainly difficult to digest, especially for those who expected something different.

The most common overall complaint was that fans expected far more "fast zombie" action than they received with 28 Years Later. In order to push the franchise forward, Alex Garland and Danny Boyle had to leave some of the elements behind. Despite a number of brutally violent scenes that would certainly qualify as elevated zombie action, many fans put down the movie for failing to meet their expectations.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple pushes those new elements even further while fully fleshing out two of the franchise's best characters in Dr. Ian Kelson and Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal. There is plenty of time for more people to see the movie in theaters, but with so many things working against it, it's not difficult to understand why The Bone Temple failed to make an impact at the box office.