The Jeremy Renner And Idris Elba Zombie Movie You Need To Watch On Hulu

In order to stand out in a crowded genre and become one of the best zombie movies of all time, you have to bring something unique to the undead table. And that's what 2003's "28 Days Later" did: it was among the first films to introduce a new type of zombie that ran at full, terrifying speed rather than just ambling along slowly as was the norm. The movie was quickly hailed as a classic and remains so to this day — but its first sequel, 2007's "28 Weeks Later," sometimes gets overlooked even though it's another all-time great in the zombie film genre.

But "28 Weeks Later" — which features Idris Elba and Jeremy Renner among its cast — has been popular on Hulu as of late. There are a few reasons why: first and foremost, with the release of the long-awaited third installment, "28 Years Later," people are going back and catching up on the previous entries in the series. Second, "28 Days Later" is currently only available to buy or rent digitally. That's only a fairly recent development, as the movie spent years completely unavailable on any digital storefronts — and is also out of print on DVD and Blu-ray, which has made the latter in particular prohibitively expensive. 

All of this has helped drive people towards the much more accessible "28 Weeks Later" instead, giving it a boost it might not have gotten otherwise. 

There was some initial pessimism from the moviegoing public about "28 Weeks Later." For one thing, neither the original's screenwriter nor director — Alex Garland and Danny Boyle, respectively — returned. It also featured a whole new cast, with Jeremy Renner playing a military sniper and Idris Elba as an army general. And while neither of them were exactly unknowns, they weren't quite yet the household names they would soon become. Certainly, they weren't yet names that could sell a movie on star power alone.

All that said, "28 Weeks Later" still did fairly well at the box office given its modest budget. It also scored a respectable 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus reading, "While '28 Weeks Later' lacks the humanism that made '28 Days Later' a classic, it's made up with fantastic atmosphere and punchy direction." The plot focuses on the United States military coming in to clean up the aftermath of what is presumed to be an eradicated Rage Virus, but it's discovered that it is very much active — and in fact, has grown even more potent.

Though we created a video that serves as the only recap you need before "28 Years Later," we still recommend watching "28 Weeks Later" before checking out its sequel. Especially since it is currently available to stream on Hulu, as well as Tubi (with ads) for those that don't have a Hulu subscription. 

While it actually took 18 years, we have finally gotten the long-discussed third installment in the "28 Days Later" franchise with "28 Years Later." Chief among the reasons people have been so excited for the new movie are that it's not only once again penned by Alex Garland, but Danny Boyle has returned to direct. Boyle has thus far only directed one sequel to a previous movie of his — "T2 Trainspotting" — so it's a big deal indeed that he decided to step back behind the camera for "28 Years Later."

But that's not all that there is in store for the franchise. A spin-off entitled "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" has already been announced, and will be among the movies that will blow you away in 2026 when it hits in January of next year. That one will be written by Garland but directed by Nia DaCosta. 

Pending the response to and box office results of "28 Years Later," Garland and Boyle will reteam once again to complete the planned "28 Years Later" sub-trilogy with its third entry. Cillian Murphy, who starred in "28 Days Later," is confirmed to turn up at the end of "The Bone Temple" and star in the third film — if the audiences and money are there.