Bird Box ending: Director explains ‘hopeful’ finale of Netflix thriller

The Netflix movie has generally been impressing audiences since its release. While many will be coming to the story with fresh eyes, many will have read the original novel first – and may have noticed some changes in how the story ends. So how did Bier decide to wrap up her adaptation the way she did?

WARNING: Spoilers for Bird Box ahead.

Despite all of the tragedy and loss throughout the film, Sandra Bullock’s character Malorie and her two children survive the threat of the mysterious deadly entities.

“The movie is slightly more positive [than the book],” Bier told Polygon.

“The movie is, in many aspects, different from the book, but it’s also very rooted in the book.

“The book also has a kind of positive ending and I would not have wanted to do an apocalyptic movie that didn’t have a hopeful ending.”

She added: “I’m not particularly interested for the audience to leave, from the cinema or their own screen, with a kind of completely bleak point of view. That’s not really what I believe in.

“And so for me it was key and part of what made me interested in it, was that if this scary, dystopian story, which actually has a hopeful undercurrent … there is a hopefulness in trust.

“That is a hopefulness in love. There is a hopeful note in certain values that I really appreciate it. And I thought that was hugely important.”

In a separate interview, Bier opened up on the challenges of filming with her actors blindfolded.

She revealed that Bullock injured herself at one point, telling Radio Times: “They were wearing blindfolds, and Sandra Bullock was hitting trees, hitting the cameras and, at one point, getting a proper wound.

“But she had trained with somebody who teaches blind people how to navigate – how to, through sound, figure out distances – so she had training in how to move around without looking.”

Bird Box is now streaming.