The first article I wrote for ReelRank News, and posted here on SomewhatNerdy first, talked about the future of theaters and how these faceless suits need to put some trust into the silver screen. But, lo and behold, a new article from Digital Spy’s Joe Anderton (that you can read here), says that there’s speculation that the third movie in the supposed trilogy won’t be happening.

I get it, Ralph Finnes, I’m upset too. (Image courtesy of Screen Rant)

One of the tenants of ReelRank News is “grounded, not gossip.” We’re to report facts and not even dip an itty bitty toe into speculative news. I bring that up becase as of the publication of this article, there hasn’t been any confirmation that the third 28 Years Later movie has actually been cancelled. This is all based on two anonymous sources.

World of Reels contributor Jordan Ruimy broke this story after 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hit VOD (You can read that article here.) In that article he claims that two of his sources said that Sony isn’t in a hurry to make the third film. This is after The Bone Temple grossed only 57.6 million according to Box Office Mojo (find the stats here) with an estimated budget of 63 million as it says on their IMDB page.

According to Ruimy: “I’ve heard from two separate sources that Sony is in no rush to make the trilogy capper happen, despite announcing it last December. In fact, I’ve heard Netflix has shown some interest in acquiring the sequel, but Danny Boyle isn’t having any of it. He wants a theatrical release for this final chapter, which is supposed to star Cillian Murphy.”

The Jimmies at The Bone Temple (Picture courtesy of Games Radar)

If this is all true. If Sony is really considering shelving the third film. I have one question. What do they think was going to happen when the sequel is released so fast and you put it in the biggest dump month there is?

Thomas Butt of Collider talks about the January dumps, a term I just coined because it’s hilarious (read his article here.) He makes a good point.

“Suddenly, as seen with last year’s promising slate, including Presence and One of Them Days, and a 2026 lineup featuring 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Dead Man’s Wire, and Send Help, January can be an exciting time at the multiplexes. Most of all, considering that most people are catching up on the awards season holdovers from the year prior, January is one of the most prestigious months we have.” Thomas Butt said in his January 22nd article.

Something rustled his jimmies. Did he hear the movie might be cancelled? (picture courtesy of Bloody Disgusting)

While I do agree with Thomas and think he makes a good point, it doesn’t change the fact that you still can’t release a movie in a known dump month, no matter how good it is, then cry that it didn’t make any money.

Looking at January 2025, the biggest new release of the month was Den of Thieves: Pantera which ended up grossing 58.3 million (according to Box Office Mojo) on an estimated 40 million dollar budget, which isn’t great. The only January 2025 film that ended up doing well in the long run was the Keke Palmer and Sza starring film One of Them Days which, according to Box Office Mojo, ended its box office run with a global gross of 51.8 million on an esitamted budget of 14 million.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera poster courtesy of their website.

So yes, One of Them Days did really well making about 3.6 times its budget back. But even then we cant’ ignore the fact that January is still a bad month for movies.

One of Them Days poster courtesy of IMDB.

According to Ruimy’s sources Sony is now considering not finishing a trilogy because of its performance in a bad month for movies that they chose. It’s just like NFT bros complaining about losing money. You did this. This is your fault.

It’s not that the movie wasn’t good. The sequel had better reviews than the first film did. Rotten Tomatoes has The Bone Temple with a tomatometer score of 92% and a audience score of 88%. Metacritic has it at an 81. And IMDB, which usually has the lowest scores in my opinion, has it at a 7.5/10.

Back in 2025 I tried to jump a fence. Whoa there! Stay with me. I have a point. Now I’m out of shape and in my early 40s and instead of climbing down the other side, I leapt from the top. I hurt myself. I am to blame for this and I know it. Now if only the Sony execs who are considering shelving 28 Years Later 3 would understand where the fault lies, we’d be better off. Let’s hope these suits make the right decision and we get to see the 3rd film on the silver screen.