Bird Box was a massive hit for Netflix when it reached the streaming service in late 2018. The post-apocalyptic horror movie was based on the novel of the same name by Josh Malerman and is set in a world populated by evil supernatural creatures that drive anyone who sees them insane.
Despite a tepid critical reception, audiences loved it, with over 26 million viewers watching it over its first week of release in the US alone. It’s currently sitting pretty on a huge 89 million views, making it the second-most-watched Netflix original movie, though it also spawned the questionable Bird Box challenge on TikTok, resulting in a warning from police to knock it off after a teenager wearing a blindfold drove into oncoming traffic and crashed.
It’s not a huge surprise that we’re hearing word of a sequel, then, especially as one comes ready-made in the form of Malerman’s recent novel Malorie. That hit shelves in July 2020 and picks up two years after Bird Box. In the book, we find Malorie and her children hiding out at a former school for the blind, only for the creatures to attack and force them to flee once more.
But there’s a twist. Whereas before you had to see the creatures in order for them to harm you, they’ve now evolved to drive you to suicide merely by touching you. The novel goes on to flesh out more of Bird Box‘s world and show Malorie’s thorny relationship with her children as they became teenagers.
Malerman was recently asked about this becoming a movie and said the following:
“I can’t say much, but I can say that it is in development. Sometimes it’s weird, all this secrecy, but I’m game.”
With COVID-19 lockdowns easing and most productions having resumed, let’s hope Netflix gets this before the cameras soon. Bird Box was an awesome thrill ride and I’d love to see more of its weird and terrifying world.