You can finally watch the classic horror film 28 Days Later again – here’s how

For years, Cillian Murphy’s classic horror film Shadow is almost impossible to watch. In the age of streaming, where every piece of media is at our fingertips, this seems like an outright scandal. Fortunately, this will soon be rectified, as this particular piece of “lost” horror media will finally be getting a full digital release.

The film is, of course, director Danny Boyle’s zombie/pandemic horror thriller 28 Days Later — a project credited with launching nothing less than a zombie movie renaissance, which makes its absence from streaming, digital, and even modern physical formats all the more puzzling. . What’s more, aside from exhuming a long-dead zombie horror movie, this 2002 film was made for the princely sum of $8 million, and ended up grossing approx. 83 million dollars All over the world. Sadly, the fact that “28 Days Later” was financed by multiple sources but distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures has created a particularly messy rights situation, making it all but guaranteed that the film would disappear from the public eye after its original DVD release.

Of course, Murphy has been a big star since 2002, having starred in 2023 films. “Oppenheimer”, the first successful film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 20 years While making nearly a billion dollars in the process. This has certainly got Sony, the studio behind the old film 28 Years Later, considering re-releasing Boyle’s horror hit. But likely due to the rights issues mentioned above, it’s taken until now for a re-release to happen, with Sony announcing a full digital release for ’28 Days Later’ starting Wednesday, December 18, 2024.

Sony announced the re-release of “28 Days Later” via Twitter/X, confirming that the film will be available “for purchase or rent on Digital starting Wednesday.”

The days are numbered.

Mark your calendar, #28Days Later It will be available for purchase 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 just days before the film will be available at some point, with Sony setting up a page for users to enter their information to be notified when pre-orders go live. Well, consider this the official notification. Although Sony didn’t provide any further details, this likely means you’ll be able to rent or buy “28 Days Later” on all the usual platforms.

The fact that the comments section of this particular announcement is filled with people demanding the full physical release of the film It should serve as a reminder of why physical media still matterseven more so when considered alongside the fact that in 2023, Best Buy has announced that it will stop selling Blu-ray discs and other physical media In 2024, Disney closed its Movie Club after 20 years. For now, fans of Danny Boyle’s 2003 horror-thriller will at least be able to watch the film without resorting to dodgy means.

And that’s a very good thing, because The trailer for “28 Years Later” promises a terrifying vision of post-apocalyptic humanity Which, for lack of a better word, looks simply gorgeous. Now, newcomers and fans alike will be able to watch the movie that started it all, as well as the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later which is also available on VOD.

“28 Years Later” is currently scheduled for release on June 20, 2025. The official synopsis is below:

“It has been nearly three decades since the Rage Virus escaped from a bioweapons lab, and now, some are still in cruelly enforced quarantine, and some have found ways to exist among the infected. One of these groups of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland. “Across a single, heavily guarded bridge, when one of the party leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that turn not only the infected, but the other survivors as well.”