Unless you've been cooped up David Blaine-like in a box somewhere, you know that last week Spider-Man 3 finished first, shattering the box-office record with a $151 million opening. Given the inevitability of No. 1, you'd think all our predictors would knock this one out of the park -- but no one ended up with a perfect prediction. Here's how the box office top five shook down:

1. Spider-Man 3 - $151 million
2. Disturbia - $5.7 million
3. Fracture - $3.4 million
4. The Invisible - $3.1 million
5. Next - $2.8 million

bubba8193 finished first -- again! -- with evilone1414 nipping at his heels. Aaaand I finished last ... again. (Full list of results after the jump.) Of course, I threw the whole thing to make you guys look good; as a wise man once said, everything I do, I do it for you. But seriously, since there's nothing I can say about Spidey that hasn't already been said, I'll put this out there instead: What ... is the deal ... with Disturbia? Have that many people never heard of Rear Window? Does Shia LaBeouf really have that many fans? Or is everything else out there just that unappealing? OK. Letting it go now. I promise.

28 Weeks Later
What It's About: In this follow-up to Danny Boyle's zombie thriller 28 Days Later, survivors return to London only to face the aftermath of the rage virus: paranoia, betrayal, cowardice, people eating each other. Good times.
Why It Might Do Well: 28 Days Later was a sleeper hit, earning $45 million domestically, and reviews for this one have generally been positive. C'mon, who doesn't love zombies?
Why It Might Not Do Well: Most of its target audience will be seeing Spider-Man 3 this weekend, and this feels like the umpteenth horror movie to come out in 2007.
Prediction: $15 million

We had a good look at the first 28 minutes of this movie a few weeks ago, and it definitely held up to our expectations. There's certainly a lot more gore here than in the first film (and the rest of the movie is a lot bloodier than the first 28 minutes), and there were quite a few pop-out-of-your-seat moments throughout, as evidenced by the number of times that my rear end left the seat. Just to prove I'm not particularly susceptible, the people around me all leapt at the appropriate moments as well.

28 Weeks Later isn't so much a sequel in action as it is in spirit. It is literally 28 weeks after the breakout of the rage virus, and the population of mainland Britain has been wiped out and the country has been declared safe and an America led NATO force is responsible for repopulating the city of London. They've re-established water and power, have operating public transportation, and apparently even the taps are flowing at a local pub that has been re-opened. It's been declared good enough to allow 15,000 people to start repopulating the country, and that number is growing with every new arrival.

If you can't wait another five weeks for the release of 28 Weeks Later on May 11, the good people at Fox Atomic are sympathetic -- they've just dropped us a few new pics that give you some hints as to what you can expect. The film picks up where Danny Boyle's 2002 horror hit 28 Days Later left off, with an incurable virus having completely decimated the population of Britain by turning most of the people into savage zombie-killers. When 28 Weeks Later begins, the U.K. is now deserted and under the control of the U.S. military; the viral infection is supposedly contained, so the Army is attempting to begin a slow repopulation of the country -- how do you think that will turn out? The first pic, above, is captioned 15 Days Later, setting the mood of a quarantined Britain, with the mass evacuation of all uninfected citizens having been ordered. The rest are after the jump -- just click on the pics to get the full-sized, uncut image.

If there's one thing that's more inevitable than a PG-13 remake of a classic horror flick, it's a sequel to an "out of nowhere" horror hit. And yes, I most definitely consider Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later to be (at least partially) a horror flick, although I have a few geek friends who love to argue about that. And we all know the drill by now: We hear that something called 28 Weeks Later is in production and we get really conflicted. On one hand, another dose of infected terror could be a real hoot; on the other, we really hate it when we see lame-o sequels spawned from really solid genre flicks.

The good news is that, based on what I've seen and heard regarding 28 Weeks Later, we just might be in for a gruesome good time. And if you'd like a nifty little taste of what's in store for a post-apocalyptic London, then by all means check out this brand-new trailer for the sequel. (Before yesterday you could only see this clip if you went to see The Hills Have Eyes 2, and while it's a pretty good trailer, I don't really consider that a fair trade-off.) Helmed by Intacto director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the follow-up stars folks like Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau and Catherine McCormack and it opens wide on May 11.

I've seen Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later more times than I care to mention, which means the idea of a sequel fills me with a) cautious enthusiasm and b) amazing geekiness. If you'd like to see the all-new trailer for 28 Weeks Later, you'll have to do so this weekend during a screening of The Hills Have Eyes 2. (It'll hit the internets after the weekend.) But if you'd like to catch a glimpse of the new (and rather cool) one-sheet for 28WL, you can do so over at Bloody-disgusting.com.

The official plot synopsis goes like this: "Six months after the rage virus has annihilated the British Isles, the U.S. Army declares that the war against infection has been won, and that the reconstruction of the country can begin. In the first wave of returning refugees, 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." And having spent a few days on the set last year, I can tell you this: The filmmakers are serious about making a sequel that stands up to Mr. Boyle's well-regarded piece of horrific sci-fi.

28 Weeks Later opens on May 11. At the helm is Intacto director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, working from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe, Enrique Lavigne and Jesus Olmo. The cast includes folks like Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Catherine McCormack, Jeremy Renner and Harold Perrineau. Opening night audiences will include folks like ... me.

You're in for a treat; the teaser trailer for the next great zombie flick has been released. From what I can tell, 28 Weeks Later has a lot of running, fires and the oh-so strong heroic character out to save the human race. I love it. I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed when I learned that Danny Boyle would not be directing. 28 Days Later was truly an exquisite film on many levels; lighting, acting and composition were gorgeous. One of my favorite images was Cillian Murphy walking alone in the wilds of his newly emptied Britain; the magnitude of his size against the impending doom was paralleled to the massiveness of the commercial truck shadowed against him. Magnificent.

Although Boyle is not directing, he is producing the film -- Juan Carlos Fresnadillo will take the torch to direct. Fresnadillo is in fact an Oscar nominated filmmaker for his short film Esposadas in 1996 and he's also partially responsible for the writing credits of 28 Weeks Later alongside Rowan Joffee. What are we basically in for? Well Britain has fallen, there isn't a living person inhabiting its streets. Thus America decides to come to the rescue ... but can the American army prove stronger than the zombie race? The full trailer will appear starting March 23 in theatres before The Hills Have Eyes II.

I know it's generally considered cool to trash whatever horror movies were popular / well-reviewed a few years back, but I still hold a rather strong affection for Danny Boyle's hardcore horror/sci-fi flick 28 Days Later. And that means that I'm cautiously optimistic (and a little bit psyched) for next year's sequel, the somewhat cleverly-titled 28 Weeks Later. Those who share my enthusiasm for this project will undoubtedly want to venture over to the official Fox Atomic site and check out the "work-in-progress" trailer that the studio is sharing with us. Based on what's in the clip (in addition to what I saw during a set visit), the sequel looks to be pretty darn nasty. And I mean nasty in an ironic way -- like "dope" or "phat."

28 Weeks Later stars Robert Carlyle, Catherine McCormack, Jeremy Renner and Harold Perrineau, is directed by Intacto helmer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and has as its producers the original 28 team of Boyle, Macdonald and Garland. The flick doesn't open until next May, but hey, it's always nice when we have a few new horror flicks out there on the horizon. Even if they're sequels.

By now you've probably heard a little bit about Fox Atomic, the studio's new "youth-friendly" division that promises all sorts of comic books, sequels and remakes for the discerning young entertainment geek. If you head on over to the official Atomic site, say, right now, you'll find your standard trailers, promos, posters and what-not.

But if you head back to the same website on October 31, you'll find it's been overtaken by the Carnival of Lost Souls, which basically means you'll get brand-new access to all sorts of goodies on Atomic's horror slate. Previously unseen materials on Turistas, 28 Weeks Later and The Hills Have Eyes 2 will be yours for the salivating, plus you'll get a lot more info on the (various and numerous) comic book tie-ins for each of these flicks. Interviews, contests, random eye-candy and more will arrive on Halloween, so if horror's your thing (and if you fit into the Atomic demographic, unlike me) you'll definitely want to check out the Carnival on October 31.

Oh yeah, didn't I tell you? They're making sequels to 28 Days Later and The Hills Have Eyes. I could've sworn I mentioned it.

We already brought you the news that the 28 Days Later sequel (cleverly titled 28 Weeks Later) was about to get underway over at Fox Atomic, and early reports indicated that both Jeremy Renner and Harold Perrineau were on board to star.

Now, thanks to a Fox press release located at ComingSoon.net, I can share a bunch more news. The sequel, which is being produced by the writer/director/producer team of Garland, Boyle and Macdonald, is being directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto). Production just got underway in England this past week, and that's why we're getting the scoop on the full cast. An impressive one, too! In addition to Renner and Perrineau, 28 Weeks Later will also feature the always-great Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting), the rather lovely Rose Byrne (Attack of the Clones), the also-gorgeous Catherine McCormack (Braveheart), and young Imogen Poots, who was last seen in V for Vendetta.

The sequel picks up six months after the terror of 28 Days Later, and it sees the U.S. military making the (erroneous) claim that the virus is now dead and gone. But without the virus, we'd have no sequel. Fox Atomic is aiming to have 28 Weeks Later ready for release on May 11th of next year.

According to the Gorehound's Bible, Fox has just announced a bunch of release dates -- and they're all for Part 2s. We recently shared with you the news on The Hills Have Eyes 2 (March 2nd, 2007), Alien vs. Predator 2 (December 21st, 2007), and Wrong Turn 2 (release date TBA), but now we also have a debut date for ... 28 Weeks Later!

Yes, that's right, the sequel to Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's fantastic sci-fi horror film will be opening on May 11th, 2007, a month that includes such heavy hitters as Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, and the Stephen King adaptation 1408.

The (potentially) bad news is that neither Boyle nor Garland will be involved with the writing and/or directing of the sequel. Both fellas, along with producer Andrew McDonald, are still connected as producers, but we have a new director (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) and a new screenwriter (Rowan Joffe) on board. Mr. Fresnadillo directed the rather cool Intacto, while Mr. Joffe is the writer of two flicks I've never heard of.

Also coming from Fox's horror division is Turistas (December 1st, 2006), which was helmed by actor-turned-director John Stockwell and stars Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, and the lava-hot Olivia Wilde. (Apparently it has to do with horrific organ harvesting in Brazil!)