Bird Box has record opening for a film on Netflix, but why? Is it Sandra Bullock, the theme or the memes?
- Post-apocalyptic survival story has best ever opening week, says streaming platform, prompting scepticism in some quarters given reviews were lukewarm
- Film does have a compelling story and a strong cast, including John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson and Danielle Macdonald
So . . . Bird Box. If you’ve seen it, you’re aware of the multitudes that brief statement contains. If you haven’t, let us shed some light: Bird Box is the Netflix movie that has taken over social media via memes about its blindfolded characters who attempt to navigate a post-apocalyptic world where simply opening your eyes outdoors somehow drives you into a suicidal state.
It has earned comparisons to A Quiet Place, another recent thriller that features an unfortunately timed pregnancy and parents protecting two young children, but whose horror deals with sound instead of sight.
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It made someone refer to star Sandra Bullock as the “lady from Bird Box”, causing everyone who would instead refer to her as the lady from Speed (and, you know, everything else) to feel like a fossil.
Finally, it is the movie Netflix said on Friday had been watched by about 45 million accounts since its December 21 debut – the best first seven days for a film released on the platform.
This assertion attracted some disapproval from those familiar with Netflix’s general behaviour in reporting. The company rarely reveals viewership statistics for its content and is not independently monitored by a third party, such as Nielsen (though the measurement company has attempted to do so in the past). Nobody else can verify Netflix’s claims, nor do they know exactly what “watched” means in this context.
As Business Insider pointed out, it doesn’t necessarily mean all those accounts wound up finishing Bird Box.