You Can Finally Watch Horror Classic 28 Days Later Again – Here's How

Searchlight Pictures

For years, a Cillian Murphy horror classic has remained almost impossible to watch. In the age of streaming, where every piece of media ever made is at our fingertips, that seems like a downright scandal. Thankfully, it's one that will soon be rectified, as this particular piece of "lost" horror media is finally getting a full digital release.

The film is of course, Danny Boyle's seminal pandemic/zombie horror flick "28 Days Later" — a project credited with launching nothing short of a zombie movie renaissance, making its absence from streaming, digital, and even modern physical formats all the more perplexing. What's more, aside from exhuming the corpse of the long-dead zombie horror genre, this 2002 feature was made for a meager $8 million and ended up grossing almost $83 million worldwide. Sadly, the fact that "28 Days Later" was funded by a multitude of sources but distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures made for a particularly messy rights situation, thereby making the film's disappearance from the public eye all but guaranteed following its original DVD release.

Of course, Murphy has become nothing short of a megastar since 2002, having starred in 2023's "Oppenheimer," the first blockbuster to win a Best Picture Oscar in 20 years while making almost $1 billion in the process. That surely had Sony, the studio behind the upcoming legacyqual "28 Years Later" mulling a re-release of Boyle's horror hit. But likely due to the aforementioned rights issues, it's taken until now for that re-release to be realized, with Sony announcing a full digital release of "28 Days Later" starting Wednesday, December 18, 2024.

Searchlight Pictures

Sony announced the re-release of "28 Days Later" over on Twitter/X, confirming that the movie will be available "to buy or rent on Digital starting Wednesday."

The days are numbered.

Mark your calendar, #28DaysLater will be available to buy or rent on Digital starting Wednesday.

Learn more: https://t.co/jDY2SnbWUg pic.twitter.com/2veRwj6mua

— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) December 16, 2024

This follows the studio's announcement a few days prior that the film would, at some point, be made available, with Sony setting up a page for users to input their information in order to be notified when pre-orders went live. Well, consider this the official notification. Though Sony provided no further specifics, that likely means you'll be able to rent or buy "28 Days Later" on all the usual platforms.

The fact that the comment section of this particular announcement is full of people clamoring for a full physical release of the movie should serve as a reminder as to why physical media still matters, even more so when considered alongside the fact that in 2023, Best Buy announced it would stop selling Blu-rays and other physical media and in 2024, Disney shut down its movie club after 20 years. For now, at least fans of Danny Boyle's 2003 horror-thriller will be able to actually watch the movie without resorting to dodgy means.

That's a darn good thing too, because the "28 Years Later" trailer promises a terrifying vision of post-apocalyptic humanity which, for lack of a better word, simply looks awesome. Now, newcomers and fans alike will actually be able to watch the film that started it all, as well as the 2007 sequel "28 Weeks Later" which is also available on VOD.

"28 Years Later" is currently set for a June 20, 2025 theatrical release. The official synopsis is below:

"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."