Like many adaptations, Netflix's Bird Box underwent a number of changes on its journey
from the page to the screen, and some of them are pretty surprising. Loosen your blindfold
and take a look at some of the biggest differences between the book and film versions of Bird
Box.
The Bird Box book takes a slow-burn approach to the apocalypse, with the spread of the
monsters unfolding over a span of months. The movie speeds things up dramatically, compressing
much of the chaos into a single afternoon.
In the book, Malorie doesn't join up with other survivors until three months after America
starts seeing a wave of mysterious deaths. Instead, she and her sister Shannon — whose
name was changed to Jessica for the movie — first take shelter together in a rented
home they share. The sisters board up the house, watching the news and listening to
the radio for updates on the outside world.
At first, Malorie's not even sure if the monsters are real, only becoming convinced when they
inspire her sister to take her own life. In the movie, Jessica sees one of the monsters
as she's driving, causing her to crash the car and walk into traffic before Malorie's
eyes.
In the book, Shannon dies more quietly inside the sisters' house, when a window becomes
exposed while Malorie's in another room. Whatever Shannon sees inspires her to fatally stab
herself with a pair of scissors. It's only at this point that Malorie becomes convinced
the monsters are real, after which she finally decides to leave and seek out the help of
others.
In the movie, Malorie finds refuge in a house with a group of strangers, with whom she hides
out for a couple of weeks. In the book, though, she sticks with this group for roughly half
a year — and it's a pretty different group, too.
Many of the book's survivors were replaced with new creations for the movie. These added
characters include Charlie, the supermarket employee and aspiring novelist; Greg, the
owner of the house; and Lucy, a young woman who teams up with Felix to steal the group's
only car.
John Malkovich's Douglas shares a few traits with a character from the book named Don,
with both men being blunt, cynical, and concerned about the group's limited resources. He's
one of the movie's most entertaining elements, and for the most part, he's made up.
"What are they gonna do at Greg's, starve?"
"Better them than us."
Both versions of Bird Box feature the characters Tom and Gary, with Gary's role as an agent
of the monsters staying more-or-less the same. But Tom, played by Trevante Rhodes, has a
much bigger role in the movie than he does in the book.
"I'm not leaving you. I'm not leaving you." "Listen to me — listen to me. I love you
so much. I love you. Go."
In the novel, Tom is a blue-eyed, sandy-haired man who dies when Gary betrays the survivors,
never becoming romantically involved with Malorie. In the movie, Tom manages to kill
Gary, keeping him from hurting Malorie and the newborn kids. Afterwards, he spends five
years living with Malorie in another location, acting as a husband to her and a father to
the two children before sacrificing himself to protect them all.
Bird Box's creatures are a threat in both versions of the story, but the movie makes
the monsters much more malicious. In the film, there's no doubt that the monsters are trying
to hurt people, while the book is a little bit more ambiguous.
One notable example occurs during the river journey, when Malorie and the kids run into
a monster. In the book, the creature attempts to take off Malorie's blindfold, but actually
backs off when Malorie protests.
It's implied in the book that the monsters aren't necessarily evil — they're more of
a force of nature that neither the characters nor the reader is able to totally understand.
The movie monsters act more traditionally villainous, attempting to manipulate people
with psychological tricks, like faking human voices.
Despite these differences, neither the book nor the movie actually show what the monsters
look like, which in the movie's case is a pretty good thing, considering the silly design
they almost went with.
In both versions of Bird Box, birds serve a purpose as warning signs for people, like
canaries in a coal mine, indicating that danger is close. In the movie, the birds are helpfully
immune to the monsters — but in the book, animals are as vulnerable to the creatures
as people are, making them less useful for survival. The movie presents Malorie's birds
as an essential asset for the river journey, but in the book, the birds die before she
even starts the trip. In one sequence during the voyage, an entire flock of birds falls
victim to the monsters, causing bird bodies and blood to rain down around the rowboat.
For a while in the book, Malorie also keeps a border collie named Victor with her as a
seeing-eye dog. It's a clever arrangement that ends in tragedy — when Victor is exposed
to one of the monsters, he reacts by fatally chewing off his own legs.
One of the most intense points in the movie comes when Malorie and the kids encounter
rapids on the river. Knowing that her death would doom the children, Malorie tells the
kids that one of them will have to take off their blindfold and act as her navigator.
Before her change of heart, it's heavily implied that Malorie is going to choose Girl to make
the sacrifice, potentially dooming Olympia's daughter while sparing her biological child.
"Somebody has to look." "I'll look."
"No, I will decide. I will decide, just give me a s… Just give me a second."
While it's one of the most suspenseful parts of the movie, this moral dilemma is completely
avoided in the book, where Malorie asserts that she'll be the one to take off her blindfold.
Don't be fooled, though — the book version of Malorie is still a pretty intense parent.
Both versions of Bird Box end with Malorie and her kids reaching a safe haven, but the
lead-up to their journey has big differences. In the movie, Malorie and Tom learn of the
potential refuge from a mysterious voice on the radio. Tom is optimistic about the new
information, but Malorie is skeptical. It's only after Tom's death that Malorie is pushed
into making the journey.
In the book, Malorie knows about the sanctuary for years, and raises her children with the
goal of eventually seeking it out. She vigorously trains the children for the journey from a
very young age, teaching them to keep their eyes closed and identify sounds, to the point
that their senses of hearing surpass hers.
Sometimes her training takes an uncomfortably brutal approach, with Malorie punishing the
children for opening their eyes by hitting them with flyswatters. When they're babies,
she even briefly considers blinding them with paint thinner. So if you thought movie Malorie
was hard to sympathize with, just know that it could've been so much worse.
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