Gerard Butler’s $40 Million Action Sequel Just Got Chewed Up by ’28 Years Later’ at Global Box Office

Contents

A Sequel to ’28 Years Later’ Has Already Been Filmed 28 Years Later

While 2025 has been a surprisingly solid year for dad-movies — The Accountant 2, The Amateur, and A Working Man all did rather well — there was one notable exception. The Gerard Butler-led action sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera just about recovered its reported budget at the global box office, but didn’t perform nearly as well as its predecessor, or enough to be called a bona fide hit. The movie was recently overtaken on the 2025 charts by another sequel, director Danny Boyle‘s 28 Years Later.

Including the $3 million-plus that the zombie horror movie generated on Tuesday, the film’s global box office haul has now passed the $65 million mark. This puts it ahead of the $58 million that Den of Thieves 2 concluded its run with. Produced on a reported budget of $40 million, the action film was directed by Christian Gudegast, who also directed the original Den of Thieves in 2018. Both films have been embraced by fans, who’ve compared them to the crime movies of Michael Mann. Den of Thieves 2 holds a 62% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and an even better 79% audience score.

Its popularity with the masses was apparent the day it debuted on streaming. Like its predecessor, whose success on home video had a direct impact on its existence, Den of Thieves 2 has been a fixture on the streaming charts for weeks. Incidentally, Butler can currently be seen in the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, which has grossed around $370 million worldwide in a couple of weeks. This past weekend, How to Train Your Dragon beat out 28 Years Later, which debuted in second place on the domestic charts.

A Sequel to ’28 Years Later’ Has Already Been Filmed

The movie opened to excellent reviews, and is currently sitting at an 89% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, however, were less pleased. They’ve awarded the movie a disappointing 64% score on the aggregator website. Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and newcomer Alfie Williams, 28 Years Later cost a reported $60 million to produce, and is all set to become the franchise’s first installment to pass the coveted $100 million mark this weekend. A follow-up, titled 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is ready for a January release. You can watch 28 Years Later in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.