Sony Pictures' 28 Years Later was given an official rating that many will find unsurprising, as it will continue a 23-year trend that began with the first film in the franchise. 18 years after the release of the previous installment (28 Weeks Later), 28 Years Later will introduce fans to a new zombified storyline and new characters, led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Ahead of its release, 28 Years Later was officially given an R rating. The film joins both of its predecessors in achieving the R rating, meaning that it will continue a trend that began when 28 Days Later was first released in 2002.
According to the Motion Picture Association's (MPA) Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA), 28 Years Later will be rated R for "strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality."
For reference, 28 Days Later (2002) was rated R for "strong violence and gore, language and nudity," while 28 Weeks Later (2007) was rated R for "strong violence and gore, language and some sexuality/nudity."
28 Years Later is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Boyle and Alex Garland (who will also be taking on the upcoming Elden Ring film). It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, and Jodie Comer. The film will officially be released in theaters on June 20, 2025.
A sequel to 28 Years Later, titled 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, will be released on January 16, 2026, and is expected to be one of the biggest films of the year.
Will 28 Years Later Be More Extreme Than Its Predecessors?
None of the films in the 28 Days Later franchise has ever shied away from the violence that many zombie projects include, and 28 Years Later will seemingly follow suit. Until the film comes out, though, it is impossible to know if it will be more violent than the previous two movies.
However, it is important to remember that the most recent film in the franchise was released in 2007. While some films released in that year displayed amazing CGI (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End), 28 Weeks Later operated on a rather small budget ($15 million).
The effects still held their own, but with 28 Years Later having a reported budget of $75 million, it is possible that more money and advancements in technology since 2007 could cause the violence and gore to look more realistic.
The amount of language in 28 Years Later will likely be similar to the amount of language in both of its predecessors. The movie's rating did not particularly note that there was strong language, so there is no reason to believe that there will be significantly more language in it than in the previous two installments.
However, it is worth pointing out that this is the first time any film in the franchise has included "graphic nudity" in its rating. This indicates that 28 Years Later will be a bit more on the NSFW side and that the nudity will likely be more gratuitous than in the other films.
