The Bone Temple’ Crumbling In Weekend Box Office Debut

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” key art.

Sony Pictures Entertainment

The horror thriller 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is showing huge cracks in its opening weekend at the domestic box office.

Picking up after the events of the 2025 rage virus thriller 28 Years Later, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple played in Thursday previews and opened nationwide in theaters on Friday.

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Directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is split into two different storylines that eventually intersect. One path follows Spike (Alfie Williams), who is looking for a way to escape from Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and his followers after his Satanic cult rescued the pre-teen at the end of director Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) stumbles into a possible cure for the rage virus after repeated close encounters with the alpha zombie Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). Whenever Samson gets near Kelson, the doctor shoots him with morphine darts to stop him, only to realize that the opioid may be reversing the effects of the zombie-like disease.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio behind 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and its predecessor, announced on Saturday that the film earned $5.6 million on Friday from 3,506 North American theaters. SPE is projecting that the film will earn $15 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, with $13.25 million of that tally coming Friday to Sunday.

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If SPE’s estimate holds up, the number falls far short of opening projections from various trade publications. Variety projected the film to make anywhere from $20 million to $22 million in its opening frame, while Deadline projected a $20 million-plus opening for the film through Monday. The latter publication noted that the film had a net production budget of $63 million before marketing costs.

The three-day estimate of $13.25 million for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple pales in comparison to 28 Years Later, which earned $30 million in its first Friday to Sunday frame after opening in theaters on June 20, 2025.

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The first 28 Years Later film had a $60 million production budget before marketing costs (per The Hollywood Reporter) and went on earn $70.446 million domestically and $70.559 million internationally for a worldwide box office tally of more than $150 million.

Oona Chaplin in “Avatar” Fire and Ash.”

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With the underperformance of 28 Years: The Bone Temple in its opening frame, it appears that Avatar: Fire and Ash is heading for its fifth consecutive finish at No. 1 at the weekend box office.

James Cameron’s third Pandora adventure is projected to earn $17.6 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend box office, Deadline reported on Saturday.

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Should the projection hold, it will boost the 20th Century Studios release’s running domestic tally to $367.8 million.

Disney’s Zootopia 2 is projected to take No. 3 during the MLK weekend box office with an estimated $12.2 million, followed by Lionsgate’s The Housemaid ($10.4 million) and A24’s Marty Supreme ($7 million).

The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.

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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2026/01/17/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-crumbling-in-weekend-box-office-debut/