According to Josh Malerman, who wrote the novel on which Netflix based its 2018 film Bird Box, a sequel to the incredibly popular thriller is currently being developed.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the source material, Bird Box tells the story of a family who must escape an unseen presence that drives everyone who sees it to commit suicide. With a deliberately vague and therefore aptly allegorical plot, it’s no wonder Bird Box quickly established itself as one of the most talked about stories in recent years.
The film, which stars Sandra Bullock in the lead role, was immensely popular with audiences, conquering a place beside Jordan Peele’s Get Out and John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place as one of the best contemporary thrillers out there.
Given the movie’s success, it was only a matter of time before sequel talk began. The source material is there, after all, as Malerman’s successor novel, titled Malorie, will hit shelves on July 21st.
“I can’t say much,” the writer told Inverse about the film adaptation of his new book, “but I can say that it is in development. Sometimes it’s weird, all this secrecy, but I’m game.”
While Malerman was not allowed to disclose any details about the pic, he did say a few things about his own story.
“Malorie opens at the school for the blind, which is where the movie ends. Then it jumps a few years later, and it really kicks off 10 years after that.”
Unlike some other award-winning Netflix Originals, Bird Box received a strictly VOD release as opposed to a limited theatrical one. This sly debut, ComicBook.com suggests, helped boost the film’s popularity by lending it an air of mystery, one that spread through word-of-mouth and has now led to a sequel being in development.