People are having way too much fun with Bird Box. It's ostensibly a horror thriller, but really it's a factory for hilarious and strangely relatable memes. Netflix must be so thrilled. Seriously! The memes started right away, most likely adding to Netflix's record 7-day viewer totals as others on social media tried to figure out what the fuss was about. There's even a #BirdBoxChallenge, with viewers jokingly or actively testing out the blindfold premise. The desperation to get others to see became one of the most popular memes.
In Bird Box, Sandra Bullock tries to get two children -- called Boy and Girl -- down a river to a presumed sanctuary, without ever taking off their blindfolds to see the mysterious creatures. If a monster is seen, the viewers either kill themselves or they go insane and become evangelists for the creatures -- trying desperately to get others to take off their blindfolds and see how beautiful it all looks.
The idea of living and even raising kids while blindfolded fascinated viewers. But Sandra Bullock's Malorie is very rough with the two kids, dragging them around, and some fans took that aspect of the Bird Box challenge a little too literally when playing at home:
Don't try that at home! Also, don't try driving with a blindfold on. That was another fan's joke:
A group of New Yorkers took the blindfold challenge to the streets, which must've confused the hell out of people who hadn't watched Bird Box:
Of course, sports fans had to get in on the action too:
Many other Bird Box fans just continued to use the blindfold as a metaphor for relationship issues:
Apparently Netflix just got wind of the Bird Box challenge and it, too, is concerned about people getting injured through this silliness:
Yeah, be careful out there. And if you do get hurt, Netflix would rather you didn't blame them.
Bird Box started streaming worldwide on December 21. It's now 2019, and many fans are still taking the Bird Box challenge into the new year. The film is based on the book by Josh Malerman, and there is no book sequel, but Netflix has to be thinking of ways to keep this going -- even without help from fans creating their own memes.
In the meantime, be careful of blindfolded people out there, and keep an eye on all the goodies coming to Netflix in 2019. The midseason TV season is also starting back up this week, and there are so many great films coming to theaters in 2019. It should be a great year. So take your blindfolds off and behold the glory!
