After an 18 Year Wait, ’28 Years Later’ Is Underwhelming Audiences on Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore Despite Critical Acclaim

The hotly anticipated three-quel 28 Years Later debuted theatrically this weekend, nearly two decades after the franchise’s last installment. The movie unites director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who also worked together on the series’ debut film, 28 Days Later. Produced on a reported budget of $60 million, the third installment opened to positive reviews and solid box office reception, but audiences that checked it out on opening day weren’t entirely pleased with its radical storytelling. The movie has earned mediocre responses from crowds on several aggregator platforms.

28 Years Later currently holds a 67% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which stands in contrast to its far more positive 90% critics’ score on the website. It also earned a disappointing B CinemaScore from opening day crowds, which is just about okay for an R-rated horror movie, but on the lower end of the spectrum for a franchise picture. By comparison, Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners earned an A grade according to CinemaScore just a couple of months ago. 28 Years Later‘s B grade puts it in the same bracket as recent horror releases such as Abigail, Nope, M3GAN, Candyman, MaXXXine, Terrifier 3, The Substance, and Drop.

However, the movie scored higher than Nosferatu, The Crow remake, Halloween Kills, Renfield, and Smile, all of which earned B- grades on CinemaScore. The First Omen, Immaculate, and Knock at the Cabin earned C grades on the polling platform, which tabulates how likely an audience member is to recommend a given movie to others. Critics seem to be responding more enthusiastically to 28 Years Later, which features Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, and Jodie Comer, alongside newcomer Alfie Williams.

’28 Years Later’ Is Aiming for the Number Two Spot at the Box Office This Weekend

Describing it as Boyle’s best movie since Trainspotting, Collider’s Emma Kiely wrote in her review that 28 Years Later is “an exciting, terrifying, and frenzied zombie movie while forging a story of mortality, morality, what makes a true hero in the face of adversity, and the importance of accepting the most inevitable thing in life: death.” The zombie horror film is expected to finish second at the domestic box office this weekend, behind the holdover hit How to Train Your Dragon. It will also likely be the first film of the trilogy to pass the $100 million mark worldwide. A direct sequel, titled 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, has been filmed with Nia DaCosta at the helm. You can watch the movie in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.