MAMA has performed very well (it’s almost at $100 million worldwide on a budget of only $15 million) so you knew it wasn’t going to be long before director Andy Muschietti signed on to a new project.
The Hollywood Reporter has an exclusive that Muschietti is in negotiations to direct the sci-fi movie BIRD BOX. The film will be an adaptation of the unreleased novel (it’s set to be published in 2014) by The High Strung’s frontman Josh Malerman. If you have watch the US version of Shameless you’ve heard the band’s song “The Luck You Got” from their album Moxie used as the theme song for the show.
So what is BIRD BOX?
A blindfolded threesome comprised of a woman and two children who make their way down a river in a seemingly post-apocalyptic setting.
Sources for THR have described the manuscript as being similiar to CHILDREN OF MEN and THE OTHERS. I can understand why comparisons would be made to CHILDREN OF MEN (if you’re doing a post-apocalyptic movie, why not compare it to one of the best films in the genre?) but THE OTHERS? It doesn’t sound like there are any supernatural elements to the film (it might though; it’s not like I have a copy of the manuscript) so BIRD BOX and THE OTHERS may just have similar psychological horror aspects. But the description does say that it’s a “SEEMINGLY post-apocalyptic setting,” so maybe there’s something else going on as they travel the river. To me it sounds like a cross between THE ROAD and the 1994 Kevin Bacon movie THE RIVER WILD.
While I haven’t seen MAMA I did really enjoy the original short film, and although this isn’t the most original sounding post-apocalyptic movie, I’d give it a shot. A search is currently underway for a writer to adapt BIRD BOX and if Andy Muschietti does sign on to direct we could have some casting news in the near future.