Technology has come a long way. Twenty years ago, you could run around in the forest shooting a zombie movie short with your friends over summer vacation using a digital camera that would later end up on YouTube at a glorious 240p or 360p. Now someone did the same using an iPhone 15 and called it 28 Years Later.
Hyperbole is fun, but it does not tell the full story. 28 Years Later was shot over the summer with the iPhone 15 and a few extra, pretty expensive, bells and whistles. The budget lands somewhere around $75 million, which makes 28 Years Later the most expensive movie filmed with smartphones so far.
The staff were asked to sign NDAs to prevent the disclosure of the iPhone 15s equipment, but there is a paparazzi photo that was shot in July that shows a movie camera that appears to be a high-end model. According to a professional camera operator, not involved with the movie, if you zoom in, you will find that the long lens isn't attached to a regular camera body or high-end modular system, but a protective cage holding something that could be an iPhone.
It was later confirmed by several people attached to the movie that the main camera system to shoot the movie was indeed Apple smartphones, in particular the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The paparazzi photo was confirmed to show an iPhone held by an aluminum cage, probably a BeastGrip Pro system, with lens attachments and depth of field adapters.
Director Danny Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle are no strangers to breaking the standards, even if it's by necessity. During the filming of 28 Days Later in 2002, due to city officials imposing strict time constraints on the filmmakers during early mornings in central London, bulky traditional cameras were a no-go. Instead, they opted for the Canon XL-1, a lightweight $4000 digital camcorder that wrote data to MiniDV tapes in 480p standard definition.
At the time it was the right choice, giving the movie a gritty and harsh look, which helped propel it to cult status. However, remastering and upscaling digital film is much harder than regular film. If you have access to a copy, you can compare the movie's final scenes shot with a proper Arri camera and the rest of the movie.
