Plot
In a post-apocalyptic world, Malorie Hayes informs two young children that they are going down the river in a rowboat. She sternly instructs them not to remove their blindfolds, or they will die.
Five years earlier, a pregnant Malorie is visited by her sister, Jessica. A news broadcast reports unexplained mass suicides spreading across Europe and Asia. After a prenatal checkup, Malorie witnesses a woman smashing her head repeatedly into the hospital window. Others start acting suicidal as well, causing panic and chaos.
Malorie and Jessica leave hurriedly. Driving away from the hospital, Jessica sees something inexplicable which drives her insane so she deliberately crashes the car. She then intentionally walks in front of a speeding truck.
As Malorie flees on foot, a woman offers her shelter. The woman then sees the entity, goes into a trance and sits inside a burning car. 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.
Charlie says that humanity has been judged, so the appearance of demonic entities is a sign of the end times. He mentions those spiritual beings have different names in various cultures, such as Aka Manah, Surgat, Huli Jing, and Púca.
They cover all of the house's windows and blindfold themselves whenever going out. As new pregnant survivor Olympia arrives, Greg dies by suicide after testing to see if it is safe to observe the entities indirectly through surveillance cameras.
Half of the group goes to the grocery store Charlie worked at for supplies. They drive there in a car with covered windows using GPS navigation system. Malorie gets three live birds with their supplies, as the entities' presence agitates them.
Later, Charlie's coworker attacks the group, attempting to force them to look at the creatures. However, Charlie sacrifices himself to save them. They make it back to the house. Sometime later, Felix and Lucy steal the car.
Olympia lets stranger Gary into the house against Douglas's wishes. He explains he escaped from a group of unblindfolded survivors who, driven insane from seeing the entities, try to force others to look at them. When Douglas tries to force Gary to leave, Cheryl knocks Douglas out, and they lock him in the garage.
As Olympia and Malorie go into labor simultaneously, Gary draws the entities, revealing he has seen them and gone insane. He knocks Tom unconscious and opens the garage door, exposing Douglas to the entities. Gary goes upstairs and uncovers all the windows. Olympia fails to look away, and after witnessing the creature, dives out the window, killing herself.
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. Douglas escapes the garage and blindly attempts to kill Gary with a shotgun, wounding him in the process, but Gary kills him with the scissors. Tom begins to recuperate shortly after, fighting Gary over the gun. After Malorie hears gunshots, Tom lets her know everything is fine.
Five years later, Tom and Malorie live together with the children, "Boy" and "Girl". They receive transmissions from survivors informing them of a safe community hidden in the forest, accessible by boat along the river. As they leave their house, a group of unblindfolded survivors attacks them. Tom distracts them so Malorie and the children can flee. He uncovers his eyes and sees the entities, but manages to eliminate all attackers before killing himself.
Malorie and the children go blindfolded down the river on a boat, carrying the birds to warn them of the entities. They encounter several obstacles, including an unblindfolded survivor and river rapids. Soon after the three reach shore, they are separated when Malorie accidentally slides down a hill. The entities nearly trick the kids into uncovering their eyes.
Regaining consciousness, Malorie tells the children she loves them and where to find her. They eventually reach the community, a former school for the blind. Malorie releases the birds and finally names the children Tom and Olympia, declaring that she is their mother. She also happily sees her obstetrician Dr. Lapham is among the survivors.
Production
Filming
Principal photography began in California in October 2017. [13] Wilderness scenes were shot on the Smith River in the far northern part of the state. [14] The house exterior is from a place in Monrovia. [15] Filming partially took place in Santa Cruz, [16] and the final scene was shot at Scripps College in Claremont. [17] [18] [19] [20]
The production used live birds during filming as much as possible, replacing them digitally for sequences when they became "agitated". [21]
The film uses footage of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, which caused the death of 47 people in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, on July 6, 2013. 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. [22] Netflix later removed the footage and replaced with an outtake from a canceled U.S. TV series. [23] The same footage was also used in another Netflix production, Travelers , but has since been removed. [24]
Music
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (of Nine Inch Nails) were hired to score the film. [26] The soundtrack album itself was released about two weeks after the release of the film, on January 1, 2019. It was first released for sale only on Nine Inch Nails's website, and later on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify and other platforms. The released version consisted of ten tracks, totalling an hour and six minutes of music. 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. We've decided to present you with this version of the soundtrack record that represents what Bird Box is to us. We hope you enjoy. 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). [28] The full version contains 13 more tracks and an extra hour of music, resulting in a two-hour (plus six minutes), 23-track album.
In December 2019, Reznor criticized Bird Box producers over their use of his and Ross's music, and the film editor over making an inadequately low mix of the music in the film, calling the experience a "fucking waste of time". [29] [30]
Bird Box challenge
The Bird Box challenge was an internet challenge that gained popularity in late 2018 and early 2019 in which participants took part in tasks while blindfolded, based on Bird Box. The challenge is similar to those of its time in internet culture, including the Ice Bucket Challenge, Mannequin Challenge, [51] and Tide Pod Challenge. [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. [53]
| Netflix @netflix |  |
Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.
January 2, 2019
However, the challenge became widely mimicked on the Internet by individuals wearing blindfolds while trying to do ordinary activities, causing injuries to some. [44] One video posted on December 24 depicted a toddler running into a wall while doing the challenge with their family. 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. [44] [57] The New York Times stated that there were no reports of serious injury at the time. [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. [60] Police Lieutenant Travis Luman responded that "it's just inexcusable to do something as dangerous as this, not only to yourself but everyone else on the road." [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. [64] YouTube updated its policies the next day, stating that challenges “that [could] cause death and/or have caused death in some instances,” pranks “with a perceived danger of serious physical injury” and anything that caused “children severe emotional distress” were prohibited on the site. They did not specifically mention the Bird Box challenge, instead citing the Tide Pod Challenge, [65] which had taken place the previous year. [66]
