Danny Boyle Says ‘28 Years Later: Part III’ Is Currently On The “Back Burner”

“It’s on the back burner at the moment,” Danny Boyle concluded this afternoon during a Q&A at the London Film Festival when asked about the current status of 28 Years Later: Part III.

The veteran British filmmaker continued to say he “hopes” the film will be made if financing can be locked in. Boyle added that the pause in the film series has also been prompted by Alex Garland’s busy schedule.

“Alex has been off doing his own film, which is a big project,” Boyle said.

Alex Garland is currently working on A24’s big-screen adaptation of the hit video game Elden Ring.

Boyle is at the LFF this year with his latest feature Ink, which screens as one of the festival’s headline galas. Directed by Boyle from a screenplay written by James Graham (Dear England), the film charts the rise of the UK’s notorious tabloid newspaper The Sun in the 1970s under the editorship of Larry Lamb, after he was poached from the Daily Mirror in 1969 by then budding media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Boyle told the LFF crowd that he and his producing team felt specific “pressures” while trying to finance Ink.

“We found it very difficult to raise the money for this,” Boyle said. “I have no idea why. They didn’t say why they wouldn’t give us the money. We managed to get the money from StudioCanal. They didn’t give us enough money, but they were brave, whereas a lot of people wouldn’t give us the money.”

Boyle said his personal theory about why StudioCanal coughed up the money for Ink is because his producer, Tessa Ross, previously worked on the box office hit Conclave with the company.

“She’d made them so much money,” Boyle said, adding he was very lucky that “StudioCanal hooked up with Netflix and they bought it for America. They’ve been really good partners because there have been pressures.”

Boyle said he will next work on an Antarctica-set film if he can raise the budget.