Why '28 Days Later' Was So Hard To Find

TV & Film

Feb 25

If you are a horror fan then you have probably heard of 28 Days Later. The film is a cult classic and is one of the most well-known zombie horror films ever. It spawned a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, and the third film in the franchise is hitting theaters this summer. After 28 Years Later got a 2025 release date, many fans wanted to go back and watch the original, but they couldn’t find it anywhere. You couldn’t stream it, rent it, or buy it digitally, and a physical copy would cost you more than $200 on most websites. Why was it so hard to find though? Let’s take a look at why this film was so hard to find even though its sequel could be found everywhere.

28 Days Later is one of the most unique films to be classified as a “zombie” film. The word “zombie” is never used in the film, and the “zombies” are actually living humans. For those of you unfamiliar with the film, here is a quick synopsis. After a group of animal rights activists free an infected chimp from a research facility, the “Rage” virus takes over London. A bike courier named Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, wakes up in a hospital after having surgery to find that after just 28 days almost everyone in London has been infected. The film follows Jim as he finds survivors and attempts to make it to a “safe haven” being run by the military that they have heard about on the radio. The sequel, 28 Weeks Later, follows a completely different group of people and takes place 28 weeks after the “Rage” infection was first released. It is also focused on people living in a containment zone that the military has set up to try to prevent any further infection from spreading. 28 Years Later will take place 28 Years after the “Rage” virus was first released and show what humanity looks like now.

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The reason that 28 Days Later was impossible to find in recent years was because of rights issues. When the film was made in 2002, it was distributed by Searchlight Pictures, originally Fox Searchlight Pictures. It officially became a subsidiary of Disney in 2019, but you still couldn’t watch the film on any streaming services. This made it clear that Disney had lost the rights to film and were not able to get their hands on them which made it illegal for them to make it available for streaming. The reason that there are so few physical copies of the film is not known for certain. Some have said that because the film was not selling well when it was first released they quit printing copies, but this has never been confirmed. We do know that Disney quit producing copies of the film when they took over Fox.

Whatever the reason, you are probably going to have to pay a small fortune to get a physical copy. Thankfully the film’s sequel 28 Weeks Later is available to stream on both Hulu and Disney + with a Hulu subscription. This is possible because the film was distributed by 20th Century Studio, originally 20th Century Fox, which Disney owns. Unfortunately, Disney also quit producing copies of this film, so it is equally as difficult to find a physical copy.

So, why can we rent and buy 28 Days Later on digital platforms now? Well, we have the producer of the film, Andrew Macdonald, to thank for that. He repurchased the rights to the film in early 2024 and then sold the digital distribution rights to Sony, who is releasing 28 Years Later. Sony is one of the few major studios that does not have their own streaming service, so for the film to hit streaming, they will have to make a deal with one of the many streaming platforms. You can now find 28 Days Later to buy or rent on digital platforms like Amazon Prime, Fandango at Home, and Apple TV.

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