Stephen King’s Favorite Horror? This Zombie Classic He Bought 800 Tickets To

Summary:

• 28 Days Later was not an overnight hit – it initially received controversial reviews in the UK, but the film was loved by Stephen King.
• King, who decided to support the project, bought 800 tickets for the opening night of the movie, which would eventually bring in a decent box office – $82 million against a budget of $8 million.
• Director Danny Boyle himself refuses to call 28 Days Later a zombie horror – it is a realistic movie about a rare type of rabies that has spread across the planet.
• Boyle plans to create a new trilogy in the franchise, with the first movie to be called 28 Years Later.

One day, writer and artist Alex Garland felt in his gut that he had to write a script for a movie about zombies that would be filmed in the middle of London's main streets. And that it should be made in broad daylight, not in pitch darkness as horror movies often do.

Garland brought this idea to Danny Boyle, who a few years ago helped him adapt his novel The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The British director could not refuse such a tempting idea, and so one of the best zombie horror films in history was born – 28 Days Later.

28 Days Later Wasn’t an Instant Success

However, the movie did not become an overnight hit. Initially, it received neutral and even devastating reviews.

But unexpectedly, the film was supported by Stephen King himself – as producer Andrew Macdonald says, the writer bought several hundred tickets for the opening night:

“When the film actually got released, I remember, classic British media, most of them in the reviews were pretty awful. […] It got really good reviews in America. Stephen King loved it. He bought 800 tickets on the opening night or something.”

It is not known how big of a contribution Stephen King's help was, but in the end 28 Days Later grossed a pretty decent $82 million against an $8 million budget and became a cult classic among zombie horror fans.

28 Days Later Is a Realistic Zombie Movie

However, in making 28 Days Later, Boyle was so committed to realism that he refused (and still refuses) to call the movie a zombie horror: after all, all the monsters in the movie only have a rare form of rabies, and no character ever says the word zombie.

Boyle paid attention to every detail of the production, even the seemingly insignificant ones. For example, he cast only former athletes to play the super-fast monsters.

The athletes' high-speed movements and endurance helped convey the menace and danger of the "zombies." Once infected, they did not become weaker and slower, but rather more violent and unpredictable: ordinary people were no match for them.

It was also important to Boyle that the viewer see the empty streets of London. Especially postcard locations like Westminster Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Horse Guards Parade and Oxford Street.

To do this, the crew filmed a few minutes on the morning, blocking traffic and trying to catch the precious rays of the rising sun – adding drama to an already devastating scene.

Boyle and Garland are now planning an entire trilogy in the franchise, the first movie of which will be called 28 Years Later. Zombie fans can only hope that the new installments will not only be a worthy continuation, but up the ante even further.

Source: Inverse