The movie has proved to be something of a phenomenon for Netflix
Released on the streaming service just a few days before Christmas, Netflix were very clever with Bird Box, putting out the Sandra Bullock thriller just in time for everyone to be plonked down on their couches for days on end.
They must have known they were on to a winner when something called The Bird Box Challenge became a reality (something that they then had to ask people to stop doing), before announcing that over 45 million accounts had streamed the movie in its first week of release.
If you want to get your maths on; 45 million accounts working out at a $10 cinema ticket each, Netflix might see this as the equivalent of $450 million in its opening week. That is some tasty receipts right there.
However, there have already been talks about how the movie could’ve been quite different, and from here on we shall ring the SPOILERS BELL.
DING.
DONG.
DING.
DONG.
Still here?
Okay. Well, there had been discussions of actually showing the creature that Sandy B and co. are on the run from, but once the director caught sight of it – she described it (via The Independent) as looking like a snake that also looked like “a long fat baby” – she decided against keeping it in.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIJco-lVAj/?utm_source=ig_embed
Additionally, the ending as it stands, finds Sandra Bullock and Boy and Girl reunited with her doctor, some birds are released, and for these few folks, there seems to be a happy ending!
Except… in the book, the ending is MUCH darker.
Bullock and the two kids arrive at the community, only to discover that everyone there had gouged their eyes out in order to survive, and unable to do that to herself and to the kids, they simply keep their blindfolds on, making the whole treacherous journey completely pointless.
Director Suzanne Bier told Polygon why she decided to take the movie in a more optimistic route:
“The movie is slightly more positive. The movie is, in many aspects, different from the book, but it’s also very rooted in the book. The book also has a kind of positive ending and I would not have wanted to do an apocalyptic movie that didn’t have a hopeful ending.
“In a way, pretty much everything I’ve done has had some sort of a hopeful ending. I’m not particularly interested for the audience to leave, from the cinema or their own screen, with a kind of completely bleak point of view.”
Bird Box is available to watch on Netflix right now, and if you’ve gotten this far down the article, then you really should’ve watched it already…
