Netflix refuse to remove footage of real-life train crash from 'Bird Box'

18 January 2019, 14:27

By Jazmin Duribe

The footage is from a 2013 train disaster in Quebec, Canada, which resulted in 47 deaths.

Netflix will not remove footage from a real-life train crash which is featured in 'Bird Box'. The movie, which shows how the world is almost wiped out when a mysterious force drives people to take their own lives, used stock footage of the Lac-Mégantic disaster in a fictional news report within the first five minutes of the film to show how the world was in chaos.

The clip was taken from the horrific 2013 incident, in which a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, resulting in the death of 47 people. It was one of the worst disasters in modern Canadian history and a number of buildings were also flattened by the explosions.

Hundreds of people called for Netflix to remove the footage, while Lac-Mégantic mayor Julie Morin also spoke out. "I don’t know if this is happening all the time, but we are looking for assurances from Netflix that… they are going to remove them," Morin said in an interview, Canada's The Globe and Mail reported. "You can be sure we are going to follow up on this, and our citizens are on our side."

Now, it's very common for studios to use stock images from real-life events in films. Netflix acquired the footage from Pond 5, a New York-based stock media supplier, which licenses images and video. The controversial footage that Bird Box used was also in Canadian science fiction series Travelers, but they are reportedly working to remove the images.

However, Netflix spokesman told Associated Press that the streaming service weren't planning to cut the disaster scene from Bird Box, stating: "We will keep the clip in the movie." But they added that going forward, Netflix will be looking at ways to do things differently.

Netflix's decision to keep the clip in Bird Box left people divided online.

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