One of the biggest turn-offs for me and a lot of other people with Fox Atomic’s upcoming sequel to 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, has been that the idea that the first film’s director isn’t really involved in this one. If you look on IMDB, he’s only listed as an Executive Producer, and a lot of the time that’s the sort of thing the studio throws on there as a courtesy credit, when the original creator of the franchise wants to distance himself from the project but they still want to keep his name associated with it.

Well today the good folks over at Fox Atomic gave me a call to tell me that we have it all wrong. Apparently Boyle is heavily involved in the production of 28 Weeks Later and while he’s not directing it, they say he’s actually shooting parts of it himself, even going so far as to serve as second AD on the movie. Further, Fox Atomic insists that the film’s new director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, was hand picked by Boyle himself. Even better, 28 Days Later’s screenwriter Alex Garland is also serving in a producer role, and according to Fox is also heavily involved in making 28 Weeks Later happen.

If like me you’re a fan of the first movie, this ought to be something of a relief. I’m not going to do an about face and go all roses and buttercups on the project, the concept still doesn’t wow me; but hearing that Boyle is so deeply involved in making it certainly gives the whole thing a different hue. Could 28 Weeks Later be better than the usual Hollywood sequel cash-in? Maybe there’s reason to hope so.