Rocker writes book. Hollywood makes movie.

Bird Box is the debut novel of a rocker named Josh Malerman - apparently he's the front man for a band called The High Strung? I haven't a clue who he or the band is, but that means nada. If his music career is going as well as his writing career he is one fortunate young man. The book won't be published until 2014 and Universal has already picked up the screen rights. According to The Hollywood Reporter the producers are looking for writers to pen the screenplay - presumably not Malerman -  BUT they've already hired a director!

The whole thing is a case of what came first; the chicken or the egg?

The director is Andy Muschietti who just helmed the horror film Mama and - well frankly, not a whole lot more according to his imdb resume.  He did have one of his songs picked up for use in the Shameless television show and there was that Mama short he made back in 2008. Ah! There it is. Guillermo del Toro was reportedly so taken by the short that he decided to executive produce the feature film. So Muschietti's a lucky man too. THR reports the low budget film, made for just $15 million, has taken in $70 million to date. Results like that trump experience every time.

What do you think of the storyline per Publisher's Weekly?

"a blindfolded threesome comprised of a woman and two children who make their way down a river in a seemingly postapocalyptic setting."  

Hmmm...sounds a bit like the Naomi Watts' film The Impossible  except it's set in some post Apocalypse world.
The publisher is Ecco, a HarperCollins imprint so watch your mailboxes for an ARC sometime in ...
the future.