Summary
- 28 Days Later is not available for rent, purchase, or digital viewing.
- The sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is accessible on streaming services.
- Failure to release 28 Days Later for streaming is a missed opportunity, especially for those too young to have seen the original on the big screen before the next installment.
With the official trailer of the next installment of one of the best horror series in movie history kick-starting what will now be a trilogy, it is not surprising that people would want to see the movie that started it all. And when talking about “starting it all” it’s not just the 28 Days Later franchise. It’s a new era in zombie movies. One that features an original take on nightmarish creatures that are far more formidable than the shambling undead movie-going audiences were used to before its release.
Even before fans got a look at the third installment in the trilogy in 28 Years Later, the one that kicked it off is still plenty popular among zombie movie and horror fans precisely because it sets up an original take on ground that’s well-trod. And now that the trailer has shown when people can expect to see what feels like it might be the final installment of an exciting trilogy, they would want to go back and brush up on the characters and storylines that made the first two movies so enjoyable. There’s just one problem, despite the carefully managed way in which the people behind 28 Years Later released teasers and pictures and finally a trailer, they forgot to do one thing. They forgot to make sure people could in fact, go and watch the first film if they wanted. At least they made it quite a bit harder than it should be in the year 2024.
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28 Days Later Not On Streaming Is Missed Opportunity
Oddly enough, 28 Days Later is not available anywhere on streaming at the moment. At least not at the time of this writing. While that certainly seems to be something an oversight, it’s a pretty massive one. It’s not that the film isn’t available to stream for free or using a subscription (it’s not) but there isn’t even a way to rent or buy it digitally right now.
A search on the popular database site that is set up to tell people how they can watch almost anything out there Just Watch comes back with the answer that the Cillian Murphy starrrer is not available to rent, to buy, or to pay a fee to watch at all. It’s literally not listed on any service. A search on storefronts like Amazon Prime and Apple TV store returns only movies similar to it.
Obviously, there are any number of reasons why this Alex Garland film isn’t available and it’s possible the rights to the movie is more complicated than people might expect, especially since it’s over 20 years old and has never gotten the 4K treatment. And perhaps that’s why it’s not just streaming platforms that are missing out. The movie is out of print when it comes to DVDs and Blu-rays.
And while it’s possible that the rights issues are making things more difficult, it sure seems like that sort of thing should have been sorted by the time the first trailer for 28 Years Later was released. It is a missed opportunity along the lines of when the Fallout series hit Amazon Prime and there wasn’t anything to release in the video game series (but was a few weeks later.) With the new film arriving in just six months, it would have been a perfect time to at the very least make some money by rereleasing 28 Days Later for rent or purchase at the very least.
There’s Still One Movie To Brush Up On
What makes it all the stranger that 28 Days Later isn’t available either on streaming or in a new physical version is that its follow-up, 28 Weeks Later, is readily available. That movie starts off with a hopeful message, that the virus is survivable and that England is ready to start rebuilding. The movie also shows how easy it is to restart the outbreak.
The sequel is on Paramount+ and Hulu, as well as rentable and purchasable on whatever digital storefront a person prefers. Of course, with 28 Days Later being more than 20 years old now, there are people out there that might not have seen the original who are only going to get lost if they immediately go and watch 28 Weeks Later.
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28 Days Later |
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Written By |
Alex Garland |
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Directed By |
Danny Boyle |
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Starring |
Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, Brendan Gleeson |
That is genuinely the oddest part about the people behind 28 Years Later not making sure the first film in the trilogy is easily accessible, even if it isn’t in the best shape as far as video quality compared to what people expect with everything being 4K. The series is old enough that it’s not just about walking down memory lane. It’s about finding out what the first installment was all about. Imagine if a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie was released and there was no way to watch the original. Freddy would never.
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