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Watch how Industrial Light & Magic brought Netflix's Bird Box to terrifying life in new VFX reel

By Josh Weiss
Bird Box

Will we ever truly be free of Bird Box? Apparently not. Thanks to a new VFX reel posted by Industrial Light & Magic today, fans can see how the special effects were brought to life for the Susanne Bier-directed horror film on Netflix.

Almost five minutes long, the video comprises everything from CGI birds, to the rustling of leaves, to the rapids traversed by Malorie Sandra Bulock) and her two children.

Based on the post-apocalyptic novel by Josh Malerman, Bird Box takes place in a world where human beings begin to kill themselves after viewing mysterious and unexplainable creatures. To keep themselves from dying, the remaining humans tie blindfolds around their eyes to avoid seeing the monsters. In addition to Bullock, Sarah Paulson, John Malkovich, Rosa Salazar, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, BD Wong, Lil Rel Howery, and Tom Hollander were all a part of the ensemble cast.

Watch the VFX reel below:

Bird Box was one of Netflix's most popular original films in the company's history, racking up an estimated 45 million views in its first week alone.

The movie's subject matter fast became an Internet meme as well as a real-world challenge, where people tried to do everyday actions while blindfolded. As expected, the results were not pretty with one girl crashing her car in Utah. Luckily, no one was hurt during the accident.

Bird Box was also the subject of a controversy for using actual footage from the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. The Canadian government demanded an apology as well as reparations from Netflix. While the streaming giant did apologize, it said that it could not remove footage from an existing property that was already on the site.

"It would be so simple to cut out those 10 seconds from Bird Box," Pierre Nantel, a Québécois parliamentary representative, told SYFY WIRE in January. "This is not complicated. Instead, Netflix is doing an expert job of destroying its own reputation, in Canada and elsewhere. If I were a Netflix shareholder, I'd be worried."


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