It really didn’t take Hollywood long at all to start plunging pandemic-related projects into development, because nothing screams “escapist entertainment” more than movies and TV shows revolving around an awful event that kept people confined to their homes for weeks if not months on end, and has so far claimed over 6 million lives.
In May 2020, just two months after COVID first brought the world to a standstill, it was announced that Michael Bay was producing action thriller Songbird through his Platinum Dunes company, with co-writer and director Adam Mason calling action in July for a four-week shoot that was the first to film in Los Angeles during the initial lockdown.
The boneheaded and tone-deaf premise unfolded four years in the future, where the virus has mutated into COVID-23, instantly setting Songbird in a reality guaranteed to draw derision. Borderline exploitative in how it used the fears of the population to propel a fast-paced genre film that featured foot chases, car crashes, shootouts, and forbidden love, nobody was shocked when the film was torn apart by critics.
A 9% Rotten Tomatoes score and 31% user rating tells you all you kneed to know about how Songbird was received by the masses, but it’s nonetheless been making an unexpected comeback on streaming this weekend. As per FlixPatrol, the misjudged and messy attempt at sociopolitical commentary told through the eyes of a broad thriller currently ranks as the 14th most-watched title on Prime Video, which is 85 minutes those subscribers will never get back.