AFTER DARK at the BFI IMAX
Alien Quadrilogy all-nighter (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection)
Plus Hot Fuzz, Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later and Curse of the Golden Flower

After the roaring success of 300, which took over the late evening slot for the last two months, After Dark at the BFI IMAX is back with an extra-special event on Saturday 2 June – an all-night screening of the Alien quadrilogy with the added bonus of Alien 1, 2 and 3 presented in stunning 70mm. Also showing soon on the big screen on the South Bank will be four current movie hits; Hot Fuzz, Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later and Curse of the Golden Flower.

For the first time at the BFI IMAX since 2000, sci-fi and horror fans can not only see Ridley Scott’s ground-breaking movie – one of the scariest films ever made – back on the big screen again, but can sit in comfort, even with a beverage or two and enjoy the three sequels. It’s a marathon SEVEN hours of viewing to handle throughout the night, so remember…. in space no one can hear you scream.

AfterDark Schedule Dates/Times:
May
Fri 25 – Thurs 31 May at 8.45pm – Hot Fuzz (15)
June
Fri 1 – Thurs 7 June at 8.45pm (except for 6.45pm on 2 June) – Sunshine (15)
Sat 2 June from 9.00pm – Alien quadrilogy all-nighter – all four films showing back to back, with a 30-minute break between each
9.00pm – Alien 70mm (15)
12 midnight – Aliens 70mm (18)
2.30am – Alien 3 70mm (18)
5.00am – Alien: Ressurection (18)

Fri 8 – Thurs 14 June at 8.45pm – 28 Weeks Later (18)
Fri 15 – Thurs 21 June at 8.45pm – Curse of the Golden Flower (15)

During the all-night event teas and coffees will be provided FREE, with snacks, sweets and soft drinks available to buy and a range of alcoholic drinks on sale at the bar.

All films with the exception of Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 which are the original 70mm versions, will be shown in their original theatrical 35mm versions (NB. not IMAX or IMAX DMR); the image will fill approximately one third of the giant screen.

Cinema information
The BFI IMAX is located at South Bank, London SE1. Nearest tube is Waterloo (2 minutes walk). Tickets for the Alien all-nighter are £25.00 for Adults and £18 for Concessions and can be bought either online from www.bfi.org.uk/imax, from the ticket desk in person or by telephoning the box office on 0870 787 2525. Tickets for the other films showing in May and June are £8.50 Adults and £6.25 Concessions.

About After Dark at the BFI IMAX
Created to offer an alternative during the evening to the mainly family-friendly titles that generally comprise our programme, After Dark is an opportunity for local residents south of the River to see new releases on the big screen. Films are screened in their original theatrical 35mm formats, unless otherwise indicated, using standard projection (i.e. not IMAX or IMAX digital re-mastering); the image fills approximately one third of the screen, making it one of the biggest pictures in London. As the auditorium is designed as a sound studio, sound quality is excellent. The BFI IMAX, two minutes from Waterloo station, offers a perfect view from steeply raked seats. Alcoholic drinks along with snacks, sweets and soft drinks are available to buy. The After Dark programme changes regularly and customers are advised to check our website or local listings for details.

About the BFI IMAX
The BFI IMAX is run by the BFI. A state-of-the-art, large-format cinema seating over 485 people, it features a screen more than 20 metres high – the height of five double-decker buses – and stretching more than 26 metres wide. It is the largest cinema screen in the UK. This, together with the 12,000-watt digital surround-sound system and the most sophisticated motion-picture projector in the world, immerses audiences in larger-than-life images and ultra-realistic sound, whether the film is in 2D, 3D or IMAX® DMR™.

About the BFI
There’s more to discover about film and television through the BFI. Our world-renowned archive, cinemas, festivals, films, publications and learning resources are here to inspire you.

28 Weeks Later: Infected

Play the game of the movie, 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later. Due out May 11th 2007.

Successfully infect London and you’ll get to see some excluse footage of 28 Weeks Later!

Full instructions are included and the graphics are suprisingly good.

Your own discretion is advisable; the hidden footage probably isn’t suitable for anyone of a nervous disposition.

See all articles about 28 Weeks Later, including interviews with the cast and crew, images and trailers and production notes.

CLICK TO INFECT!

28 Weeks Later

“Warning! Maintain the quarantine. Deadly force will be used to protect this area.”

This article contains background information on 28 Weeks Later, including Cast, Crew and production notes, and interviews with Robert Carlyle, Danny Boyle (Executive Producer), Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Director) and a whole host of other people involved in the project.

Play 28 Weeks Later: Infected online game!

Synopsis

28 Weeks Later, the follow up to the hugely successful 28 Days Later, picks up six months after the rage virus has annihilated the Mainland Britain. The US army declares that the war against infection has been won, and that the reconstruction of the country can begin. As the first wave of refugees return, a family is reunited - but one of them unwittingly carries a terrible secret. The virus is not yet dead, and this time, it is more dangerous than ever.

How It All Started

28 Weeks Later is directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) and produced by Enrique López-Lavigne, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich. 28 Weeks Later is an original screenplay by Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Enrique López-Lavigne, and Jesus Olmo; with Danny Boyle and Alex Garland serving as executive producers. The cast is led by Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting); Rose Byrne (Sunshine, Troy); Jeremy Renner (The Assassination of Jesse James, Dahmer); Harold Perrineau (The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions, Lost); Catherine McCormack (Braveheart, Spy Game); Imogen Poots (V For Vendetta) and Idris Elba (The Wire). Also joining the cast is a talented young newcomer, twelve year old Mackintosh Muggleton making his feature film debut.

Four years after the enormous international success of 28 Days Later, the director/producer/writer team of Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and Alex Garland felt the time was right to make a sequel. “We were quite taken aback by the phenomenal success of the first film, particularly in America,” recalls producer Andrew Macdonald. “We saw an opportunity to make a second film that already had a built in audience. We thought it would be a great idea to try and satisfy that audience again. The hard bit was to try and find a story which would live up to the power and depth that Danny and Alex brought to the first film.”

The first decision the filmmakers had to make was when should the sequel be set. Should the film involve the original cast? Should it go further into the future? Should it be a prequel? 28 Days Later told the story of when the virus was first unleashed following a raid on a primate research facility by animal rights activists. Transmittable in a single drop of blood, the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. Within 28 days the country was overwhelmed and a handful of survivors desperately struggled to salvage a future.

“Alex came up with a lot of ideas and eventually we agreed upon a concept about what would happen to the UK after the disease had been eradicated and the quarantine was lifted,” explains Macdonald. “What would happen if there were only 500 people populating the UK? Who would be there to organize the survivors and refugees coming back from overseas, and what would happen to the Brits who survived? All those questions seemed interesting to us and it was out of them that the story evolved”.

Screenwriter Rowan Joffe, who had previously written Gas Attack and Last Resort, was hired to craft a first draft of the script. The search then began for a talented young director who would have the flare to follow in Boyle’s footsteps as well as be able to bring a fresh new perspective and their own unique vision to the film. “We were looking for a filmmaker of some individuality who could bring something different to the film,” says Boyle. “London was such a big part of the first film we thought that getting somebody from outside the UK to come in and direct would be an interesting approach as they would give the Capital a fresh look.”

Boyle had recently seen the provocative thriller Intacto, the feature film debut from Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo which had been a huge international and critical success. “I thought Intacto was amazing,” recalls Boyle. “A terrific thriller with tremendous flare and energy, as well as being a highly individual piece of filmmaking. I recommended [Producer] Andrew Macdonald and [Executive Producer] Alex Garland go and see it with Juan Carlos in mind for taking the helm on 28 Weeks Later.”

After seeing Intacto Macdonald and Garland were also convinced that Fresnadillo was the director they were looking for, and the filmmakers approached him to direct 28 Weeks Later.

They were thrilled when Fresnadillo and his Spanish producing partner Enrique López-Lavigne agreed to come on board. Producer Allon Reich explains, “Juan Carlos and López-Lavigne, they’re a fantastic double act. Juan Carlos is very thoughtful, very much about the detail… While Enrique is a ball of energy, a film geek, and he’s seen every film of this type. And I think there’s definitely a yin and yang in their energy, and the way they approach life that leads to a very kind of a creative whole.”

Fresnadillo recalls being approached by DNA, “I’m a big fan of 28 Days Later. It was such a big honor to receive the invitation to direct the second film, but at the same time it was something really scary. I didn’t understand what I could do, you know, to improve on the first one or to follow that landscape. But DNA chased me for one or two months… And from the first time we met I was very comfortable with them, because they were open to my ideas.”

Fresnadillo and López-Lavigne began working on the script with the help of Spanish screenwriter Jesus Olmo, developing the story around a family and what happened to them in the aftermath of the original film.

López-Lavigne explains, “The family was a good idea for us, and we wanted to develop this into something. But there is always a problem with this kind of structure in which you are looking at the new world through four different eyes, instead of one. That’s why we had to find a really strong concept for the actual storyline. And what we came up with is a storyline, that we really believe; it’s about the idea that no one is unaffected from his past.”

Fresnadillo tells about the process of writing the script, “We worked on the screenplay for almost one year, and at the end we reached a screenplay that I really love. But I was concerned about if the producers were going to like it because it was very special and different from the first one. Obviously following the same landscape and the same situation about this apocalyptic vision of the world, but to my surprise they liked it a lot.”

Boyle elaborates on working with Fresnadillo, “He’s got one foot in two cultures, so he was an interesting guy to get, you know, rather than just get another Brit who probably would [have made] it much as I’d made the first one. So you need a kind of different eye on it, really. And there’s a great tradition at the moment in our cinema of Latin American and Spanish directors, and it’s, I think, great to be able to be part of it.”