Upon its release in late 2018, Bird Box raked in 45 million views on Netflix in just its first week on the service, so it isn't all that surprising to learn that the streaming giant is now developing a sequel.
Josh Malerman, author of the titular novel adapted for Susanne Bier's Netflix film, confirmed to Inverse that a sequel film based on forthcoming sequel novel Malorie is currently in development. "I can't say much, but I can say that it is in development," he said. "Sometimes it's weird, all this secrecy, but I'm game."
Malorie is slated to hit shelves July 21 and takes its name from the Bird Box protagonist Sandra Bullock portrayed onscreen. Malerman told Inverse that his new novel picks up directly where Bird Box left off — making your book-or-film consumption choice that much easier.
"Malorie opens at the school for the blind, which is where the movie ends," the author said. "Then it jumps a few years later, and it really takes off 10 years after that."
A synopsis for Malorie reads in part, as follows:
Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence. There remains no explanation. No solution. All Malorie can do is survive — and impart her fierce will to do so on her children. Don't get lazy, she tells them. Don't take off your blindfold. AND DON'T LOOK.
Malerman explained that while Bullock's acting and the project's inspired him to pen Malorie, the film did not directly influence his work on the sequel book.
"It took about the same amount of time. I was also aware that there was a possibility that Sandra Bullock wouldn't be playing Malorie," he explained. "When you first start writing novels, especially now, how do you not see them cinematically? We grew up on movies. So with Bird Box, I always saw it cinematically. It almost reads like stage directions. It felt the same writing Malorie, but I didn't have Sandra Bullock in mind when I wrote the first one."
You can read Malerman's complete conversation here.
Josh Malerman, author of the titular novel adapted for Susanne Bier's Netflix film, confirmed to Inverse that a sequel film based on forthcoming sequel novel Malorie is currently in development. "I can't say much, but I can say that it is in development," he said. "Sometimes it's weird, all this secrecy, but I'm game."
Malorie is slated to hit shelves July 21 and takes its name from the Bird Box protagonist Sandra Bullock portrayed onscreen. Malerman told Inverse that his new novel picks up directly where Bird Box left off — making your book-or-film consumption choice that much easier.
"Malorie opens at the school for the blind, which is where the movie ends," the author said. "Then it jumps a few years later, and it really takes off 10 years after that."
A synopsis for Malorie reads in part, as follows:
Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence. There remains no explanation. No solution. All Malorie can do is survive — and impart her fierce will to do so on her children. Don't get lazy, she tells them. Don't take off your blindfold. AND DON'T LOOK.
Malerman explained that while Bullock's acting and the project's inspired him to pen Malorie, the film did not directly influence his work on the sequel book.
"It took about the same amount of time. I was also aware that there was a possibility that Sandra Bullock wouldn't be playing Malorie," he explained. "When you first start writing novels, especially now, how do you not see them cinematically? We grew up on movies. So with Bird Box, I always saw it cinematically. It almost reads like stage directions. It felt the same writing Malorie, but I didn't have Sandra Bullock in mind when I wrote the first one."
You can read Malerman's complete conversation here.