Despite outcry, Netflix will not remove real-life train derailment footage from Bird Box

Netflix is not planning to remove footage of a real-world train derailment that was used in its fiction film Bird Box, despite outcry from citizens of Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, Canada, The Verge has confirmed.

The film, in which society breaks down after the arrival of madness-inducing monsters, uses stock footage of the derailment to illustrate the catastrophes resulting from the creatures’ presence. The video was taken from the 2013 disaster, in which a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, resulting in 47 deaths. It was one of the deadliest disasters in modern Canadian history. The footage appears at the beginning of the movie in a fictional news report. It’s not meant to represent the actual 2013 event. Still, people online and even Lac-Mégantic mayor Julie Morin have asked Netflix to remove the images.

“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 told Canada’s The Globe and Mail. “You can be sure we are going to follow up on this, and our citizens are on our side.”

Although Netflix declined to officially comment on the situation, it’s common practice for studios to use stock images from real-life events in films, especially those with post-apocalyptic storylines. Netflix acquired the footage from New York-based stock media supplier Pond 5, which licenses images and footage. The same footage that appeared in Bird Box was also used in a Canadian science fiction series called Travelers. Carrie Mudd, president of Peacock Alley Entertainment, which produced that series, told the news agency The Canadian Press via email that the company was working to remove the images.

Bird Box is reportedly one of Netflix’s most successful films to date. Netflix is claiming that more than 45 million accounts streamed the movie in the first seven days of its release. It’s available to watch around the world.