This is an accepted version of this page Bird Box is a 2018 American post-apocalyptic horror thriller film directed by Susanne Bier and written by Eric Heisserer, based on the 2014 novel by Josh Malerman.

The film follows the character Malorie Hayes, played by Sandra Bullock, as she tries to protect herself and two children from entities which cause people who look at them to kill themselves.

Passing by, Tom picks up Malorie from the street into the house, where six others – Douglas, Greg, Cheryl, Felix, Charlie, and Lucy – are taking shelter.

As new pregnant survivor Olympia arrives, Greg commits suicide after testing to see if it is safe to observe the entities indirectly through surveillance cameras.

Malorie hides with both newborns under a cover while Gary forces Cheryl to look at the entities, causing her to stab herself in the neck with a pair of scissors.

[7][8] In October 2017, Danielle Macdonald, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Sarah Paulson, Rosa Salazar, Lil Rel Howery, and Amy Gumenick joined the cast.

The stock footage was purchased from a vendor and Netflix stated it would stay in the movie even after a request to remove it from survivors of the disaster.

In a statement on the Nine Inch Nails website, Reznor said: Like all soundtrack records we release, we aim for these to play like albums that take you on a journey and can exist as companion pieces to the films and as their own separate works.

We created a significant amount of music and conceptual sound for Bird Box, a lot of which never made it to your ears in the final version of the film.

For those interested, we will be releasing a more expansive (read: more self-indulgent) physical-only offering this spring that will contain an additional hour of music and artwork that colors further outside the lines ...[27]The full version of the soundtrack was released on November 22, 2019, exclusively on a special edition vinyl box set (with a digital download at purchase).

[31] However, due to the Woolsey Fire that hit California and out of respect for the victims of the Thousand Oaks shooting, Netflix cancelled AFI Fest's red carpet coverage scheduled for the premiere.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Bird Box never quite reaches its intriguing potential, but strong acting and an effectively chilly mood offer intermittently creepy compensation.

[35] Brian Tallerico from RogerEbert.com said, "Most of the problems with Bird Box come back to a thin screenplay, one that too often gives its characters flat, expository dialogue and then writes itself into a corner with a climax that's just silly when it needs to be tense.

"[36] Amy Nicholson, in a review for British newspaper The Guardian, gave a negative appraisal, awarding the film two out of five stars and concluding that "as the film staggers on in its quest to give us entertainment satisfaction or death, we're tempted to identify with the movie's first victim, a woman in a tracksuit banging her head against the glass, ready to get this painful sight over with.

[41][42] This audience figure released by Netflix was met with skepticism from some analysts, who cited a lack of independent verification of the view count.

[46] Bird Box became the most-watched film on Netflix within 28 days of its release, with 282.02 million hours being viewed.

[52] In Australia, Netflix originally partnered with four Twitch streamers in November 2018, performing what they called a Bird Box challenge, in which they would play some popular video games while blindfolded.

YouTuber Morgan Adams gained 1.7 million views for her "24 Hour Bird Box Challenge" video,[55] posted on December 30.

[56] On January 2, the Netflix account on Twitter posted a cautionary plea for internet users not to injure themselves while partaking in the challenge.

[57] On January 7, YouTuber Jake Paul appeared to drive while blindfolded as part of his own 24-hour Bird Box challenge video, directly violating YouTube's community guidelines which prohibited the promotion of dangerous activities, though did include a small "do not try this at home" caption at the bottom of his screen and a disclaimer in the description box of the video.

[58] The same day,[59] a 17-year-old driver in Utah crashed into another car while taking part in the challenge[60] after driving into oncoming traffic;[61] there were no injuries.

"[62] On January 14, British Transport Police began an investigation into YouTuber Ben Phillips after he uploaded a video on his channel which included his partner Elliot Giles standing blindfolded on a railway track for the challenge, which is a criminal act.

[63][64] The Daily Telegraph reported on January 14 that the video had been watched almost 200,000 times since it was uploaded on the previous day; police warned of potential copycat incidents.

[69] Bird Box: Barcelona was released on Netflix on July 14, 2023, with Mario Casas, Diego Calva and Georgina Campbell in main roles.