Barcelona’s CineEurope summit opened with Sony screening the first 28 minutes of Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later,” followed by a high-energy chase from Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing,” giving European exhibitors an early measure of the studio’s 2025 schedule.
Reaction to Boyle’s footage was buoyed by market data: advance ticket sales have already made the June 20 release the year’s strongest horror pre-seller, outpacing Final Destination: Bloodlines and Sinners in their comparable windows. The film, produced by Columbia and DNA Films, revisits the Rage-virus quarantine with new leads Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, while original star Cillian Murphy returns as an executive producer.
Boyle shot large sections on iPhone 15 rigs to echo the rough immediacy of the 2002 original, a technique Sony highlighted in a behind-the-scenes reel played in the auditorium. Business Insider notes the director used a private island setting to explore isolation “formed by necessity rather than fear,” positioning the sequel as the opener to a planned trilogy.
Aronofsky introduced “Caught Stealing” via a pre-recorded clip, joking that he was “trading existential dread for bruised knuckles.” The August 29 crime caper stars Austin Butler as a washed-up ballplayer pulled into a 1990s New York underworld, with Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith and Regina King among the ensemble.
What to Watch reports that author Charlie Huston adapted his own novel, promising a mix of dark humor and street-level violence rare in the director’s catalogue. The project joins Sony’s late-summer slate alongside Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopics and the Columbia-distributed I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot.
Sony’s international chief Steven O’Dell told delegates the studio is leaning on “risk-taking film-makers with proven box-office pull” to keep momentum after strong returns from Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible 8. Exhibitors left the session praising the range: a grittily shot post-apocalyptic horror for midsummer and a neon-soaked heist for the dog days, each carrying talent that should travel well beyond North America.
