The Sci-Fi Thriller On Netflix That Changed The Streamer Forever
Netflix has released a ton of original films since releasing its first original film, Beasts of No Nation, in 2015, but plenty of them have flown under the radar. However, the streamer would get a massively huge hit in 2018 when it released the film adaptation of Bird Box, which reportedly became the most-watched film on Netflix within 28 days of its release. If you never watched this film, it’s still available to stream, and it’s entertaining enough to be worth your time.
Sandra Bullock’s intense horror film Bird Box set records for Netflix, becoming the most-watched film within one month of release.
Bird Box is directed by Susanne Bier and written by Eric Heisserer, based on the novel of the same name by Josh Malerman. The film stars Sandra Bullock as a mother who tries to protect herself and her children from entities that cause people to kill themselves if they look at them. Along with Bullock, the film also stars Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rey Howery, Tom Hollander, Machine Gun Kelly, BD Wong, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Vivien Lyra Blair, Julian Edwards, Parminder Nagra, Rebecca Pidgeon, Amy Gumenick, Taylor Handley, Happy Anderson, and David Dastmalchian.
Bird Box certainly isn’t the best Netflix Original film out there, but it’s definitely got an interesting premise and story. However, it got pretty mixed reviews upon its release. Sandra Bullock’s performance got a good amount of praise, and the chilling setting of the film also got good reviews, while those who panned the film criticized it for its thin plotting and characters.
However, if you ask Netflix, Bird Box was an undeniable hit for the streamer from a viewership perspective. Nielsen said that the film was estimated to have around 26 million viewers within the first seven days of its release, while Netflix would release its own figure claiming that the number was actually around 45 million.
Analysts claimed the lack of independent verification made this figure hard to believe, and Netflix would later claim that the film accumulated over 89 million views over the first four weeks of its release, which would earn it the distinction of becoming the most-watched film on Netflix within 28 days of its release with over 282 million hours.
Bird Box was viewed almost 90 million times within the first month of release, reaching 282 streamed hours for Netflix.
Bird Box would eventually be unseated from this top spot in 2021 by the film Red Notice, which starred Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot. The film was a bit of a social media phenomenon, too, inspiring plenty of memes and, unfortunately, also inspiring the ill-advised Bird Box challenge. The challenge started harmlessly enough, with people putting on blindfolds and streaming themselves playing video games.
However, the danger levels of the Bird Box challenge increased when people began to film themselves doing daily activities with blindfolds on, prompting Netflix to take to social media and encourage people not to participate in the challenge for safety reasons. The trend culminated with a 17-year-old girl crashing her car into traffic while doing the challenge, which caused state police in Utah to issue a similar warning. YouTube would eventually update its guidelines to discourage challenges like these, removing content where people put themselves in this kind of danger.
While the Bird Box challenge is undoubtedly stupid and dangerous, you can safely watch the movie without putting yourself in harm’s way. As mentioned, the reviews are mixed, so your enjoyment of the film may vary. If you’re not expecting anything particularly groundbreaking, then the film should be enjoyable enough to check out.
The New Spin-Off: Bird Box Barcelona
It’s also a great time to check out Bird Box because a spin-off of the film Bird Box Barcelona was recently released in July. If you like the first film, you’ll probably enjoy this Spanish-language spin-off that is directed by Alex and David Pastor. The film is also co-written by Alex and David Pastor and stars Mario Casas, Alejandra Howard, Georgina Campbell, Diego Calva, Naila Schuberth, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Lola Duenas, Patrick Criado, Gonzalo de Castro, Michelle Jenner, and Celia Freijeiro. The film also got mixed reviews.
Bird Box Barcelona was announced as the first of multiple local-language spin-offs for the franchise, so we may be seeing more of these movies in the future. Until then, make sure to check them both out. You can stream Bird Box and Bird Box Barcelona now on Netflix.
