Record-Breaking 45 Million People Watched ‘Bird Box’ On Netflix In First Week

Netflix

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard of the Netflix original Bird Box, which has been taking the world by storm of late.

Not literally but you know what I mean!

Anyway, the post-apocalyptic thriller, starring Sandra Bullock, has garnered a lot of hype online, with people deeming it the scariest film of the year – if not ever.

Well it seems it’s living up to the hype because the much anticipated film has already broken a Netflix record, in just the first seven days since its release.

Now, I’ll be upfront with you here and tell you the truth; I am yet to watch Bird Box because I’m a complete wimp when it comes to scary films. Seriously, I’ll hide behind my hands, cushions, the sofa… You name it, I’ll do anything to avoid watching them.

So if something’s deemed to be the scariest film of all time, you’d better believe I’m avoiding it like crazy. #Sorry, not sorry.

But luckily for Netflix, 45 million people aren’t like me, because that’s the number of Netflix accounts that watched the thriller in the first week following its release.

You can take a look at the trailer below, see if you can handle it:

If you take into account the thought people probably aren’t watching the film alone (because who watches scary films alone) then the figure of 45 million is likely to be a lot bigger.

According to Netflix, this is a record for the streaming giant and is the ‘best first seven days ever’ for a Netflix film.

Taking to Twitter, they wrote:

Took off my blindfold this morning to discover that 45,037,125 Netflix accounts have already watched Bird Box — best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film! [sic]

Which, when you think about the number of Netflix original movies there are, is pretty damn impressive. Am I really the only person who hates being scared?

The film, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman, follows a pregnant Malorie (Sandra Bullock), as she joins a band of survivors, along with her two young children, in an attempt to escape an unknown force which is causing mass suicide.

When you lay eyes on the mysterious and dangerous force, it’ll cause you to take your own life, meaning Malorie and the children’s best hope of survival, is to operate blind.

Netflix

Nope, I’m out. I mean, I was out at ‘unknown force’ but when you add into the equation the fact all of the main characters are blindfolded – nope x 10.

I think the main thing I’ve taken away from the release of Bird Box – without having watched it so, y’know, take this with a pinch of salt – is that no one seems to know who Sandra Bullock is. Which is a complete travesty.

Everywhere I look I’m seeing people describe her as ‘the lady from Bird Box‘ and, I’m sorry, but that is not acceptable. C’mon guys, really? Miss Congeniality, Gravity, The Blind Side, Premonition… ring any bells?

Anyway, rant over.

Congrats Netflix. And, of course, to the queen that is Sandra Bullock.

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Lucy Connolly

A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).