The Box poster

The Box (2009)

Film · 1h 55m · Rated PG-13

Sci-Fi, Thriller

A mysterious box offers a million dollars, but pressing its button brings a stranger's death.

Suspenseful and bleak. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.

Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 28, 2026.

The Box parents guide

Nothing past what a PG-13 promises: no sex or nudity and mild language.

Rated PG-13, but by what is on screen our estimate is fine from about 10.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Some violence
Some fighting or peril.
Sex and nudity
None noted
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is The Box scary?
Only a little. The Box has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is The Box?
Light gore and some violence.
What is The Box rated, and is it OK for kids?
Fine for most older kids. Rated PG-13, with no sex or nudity and mild language.

What is The Box about?

Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. However pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

It leaves the ending open to interpretation.

Cast and crew

Directed byRichard Kelly
StarringCameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn, Holmes Osborne, Sam Oz Stone

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.