The highly anticipated Netflix horror film follows a woman, played by Sandra Bullock, as she tries to protect herself and two children from malevolent supernatural entities that make people who look at them go insane. Netflix reported a week after the film was released that ‘Bird Box’ had the biggest seven-day viewership for any of its original films to date, with over 45 million viewers.
Bullock received much praise for her performance. Variety wrote that she was “wonderfully self-reliant” and TheWrap described her performance as “fascinating and terrifying to watch”.
Her Next Film Made Even More Money Than Gravity
Bullock's next film was 'Minions". The film grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide and quickly became the Oscar-winning actress’s highest-grossing film to date. Critics praised the comedic aspects of the animated film and the vocal performances of Bullock as the film’s villain, Scarlet Overkill, but felt that the title characters were not able to carry the film on their own.
She then played Jane Bodine, a retired political consultant hired by an unpopular Bolivian politician to help him win the presidential election in the political comedy-drama film, 'Our Brand Is Crisis, before taking another sabbatical that lasted until her return only a few years later.
In 2018, Bullock’s Films Grossed More Than $5 Billion Total
Bullock returned in 2018 from her sabbatical in the all-female Ocean’s Eleven spin-offs, Ocean 8. She played leading lady Debbie Ocean, the sister of Danny Ocean, who helps plan a sophisticated heist of the annual Met Gala in New York City. Despite receiving bland reviews from critics, the film was a commercial success grossing US$296.9 million globally.
Bullock’s total box-office revenue generated from her movies officially passed the $5 billion mark after the release of 'Ocean 8', making her one of the highest-grossing actresses in Hollywood. She recently partnered with Netflix to play in one of the year’s anticipated post-apocalyptic horror films, 'Bird Box'.
Bullock Was Actually Blindfolded During Filming
The premise of 'Bird Box' is that strange creatures roam the world and make anyone who looks at them go mad, therefore everyone in the film needs to wear a blindfold whenever they’re outdoors. Instead of opting to cut small holes in her blindfold for convenience and safety, Bullock refused to make life easier for her or the crew and instead opted to go for the real thing.
The Oscar-winning actress was basically blindfolded for real whenever a scene required her to be, which happens to be about half the movie. This caused Bullock to repeatedly fall and run into the camera while filming her scenes. Susanne Bier, the film’s director, claimed she suffered “sleepless nights” because of Bullock’s dedication to realism, "I had a completely dedicated, crazily diligent actor - I said 'can we just make holes in the blindfold?' and she said 'no way, no way'. I kept hoping she wouldn't bump into the camera."
Bullocks Kept the Film’s Kids Safe From Her Dedication
Despite deciding to completely immerse herself in 'Bird Box's atmosphere by being fully blindfolded throughout the filming, Bullock’s love for kids and motherly instincts seemed to keep her somewhat sane. While being interviewed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the oscar-winning actress claimed she “had the crew eliminate one layer of the blindfold” to minimize the risk of accidents while filming scenes where her character had to carry kids across the dense forest.
“Any time I had the kids, and I had to run, I had the crew eliminate one layer of the blindfold so I could see outlines,” Bullock said. The crew also made sure to hook the kids onto Bullock for safety purposes. Many people believe that actors that play in horror films enjoy scaring people or being scared themselves, but ironically, Sandra Bullocks revealed that she absolutely hates being scared.