Netflix film chief Scott Stuber has assembled a critically acclaimed dream team for the streaming service's adaptation of the 2014 Josh Malerman novel BIRD BOX. Eric Heisserer, who has gone from working on FINAL DESTINATION 5, the THING "premake", 2010's A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and LIGHTS OUT to being the Oscar nominated writer of ARRIVAL, is handling the screenplay adaptation, with Susanne Bier, who got a lot of praise for directing the mini-series The Night Manager, attached to direct. Sandra Bullock is signed on for the lead role.
The story Malerman told in his novel sounds quite interesting. It's set in a post-apocalyptic near future,
where a mother (Bullock) and her two young children are among a small group of survivors after a mysterious alien force has driven the world's population to deadly violence. The three must make their way on a terrifying journey — 20 miles in a rowboat — while blindfolded, with nothing to rely on but the mother's wits and the children's trained ears.
I haven't read the novel, but descriptions confirm that the reason this rowing bunch needs to be blindfolded is because it's the sight of whatever this alien thing is that drives people mad and makes them violent. That's a great concept.
BIRD BOX is expected to go into production in August. The film is being produced by Dylan Clark, Chris Morgan, and Clayton Townsend.
Whenever this hits Netflix, I'm definitely going to be watching it.