As A Millennial, Even I Was Surprised To Learn How 28 Days Later Got Its Title In The First Place

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16 hours ago

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As the 2025 movie schedule pushes forward, there are still plenty of great titles to look forward to. One that particular piques my interest is Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's return to the 28 series by way of a long-awaited sequel that's a long time coming. Ahead of the film's release, I was able to attend 28 Years Later's footage presentation and was surprised to learn some new lore surrounding the first film, especially how it actually got its title.
Being on hand for Sony's New York event that showed 28 minutes of 28 Years Later, I was able to hear an introduction from director Danny Boyle. Mixed in with the setup for what we saw of this new potential trilogy starter were some 28 Days Later trivia points that even I, a millennial, didn't know. Which included this story about that horror classic's title, as told to the audience that CinemaBlend was a part of:
The title was based on … it used to be when you returned goods, that was what you always had. Now online shopping, it's all returned things. But [back] then it was like, you have 28 days in which to return this good, to get your money back, or stuff like that. It was a common usage [sort] of thing. It's sort of died out now, but that's where we got it from.
Well now, that charming scene where Jim (Cillian Murphy) and his friends are gleefully looting the grocery store just might make more sense after learning this fact. Not to date myself, but I remember the run-up to the release of 28 Days Later rather well; which is part of why this random fact is so surprising to me.
Fittingly enough, this tale came after a story I did remember, about how Danny Boyle needed to heavily disclaimer early screenings to festival audiences. The reason being that Fox Searchlight thought that audiences would mistake the origin film of the Rage Virus as a sequel to the Sandra Bullock rom-com 28 Days.
Sadly, a lot of the news and marketing materials released from 2002 to 2003 are lost to the sands of time; much like tons of treasures from the era of Internet 1.0. So much like that Sandra Bullock story, any word on the title's origins is also buried in the digital wasteland. And, seeing as 28 Days Later's long out-of-print status has recently been remedied, this horror title (which belongs among the best 2000s movies) hasn't exactly been pushed as hard as some of its contemporaries.
Much like a situation of confusing Hotel Artemis with a kids movie, this scenario could have left some people seriously bewildered. And, if you read some of the Amazon product reviews on the DVD for Ms. Bullock's movie, some still are. The good news is, much as Danny Boyle pointed out in his introduction to 28 Years Later's sizzle reel, you have more than a month to return said disc if you mistakenly bought it!
I learned quite a bit that day about that 2002 franchise origin story, thanks to a one-on-one interview I took part in with the Slumdog Millionaire director. It was in that session that I found myself surprised to learn of some other actors who vied with Cillian Murphy for his eventual role in 28 Days Later. But, as some movie fans will tell you, sometimes the simplest facts from the past turn out to be the ones that give you the largest shocks.
Speaking of shocks, we're closer to 28 Years Later than we've ever been; as the legacy-quel is about to debut in theaters on June 20th. And, if you're looking to revisit 28 Days Later or check it out for the first time, you can currently stream the film, free with ads, on PlutoTV.