Just as soon as Netflix solved the problem of Bird Box viewers attempting the dangerous #BirdBoxChallenge, the company has hit another snag. CBC News reports that the streaming company has been accused of using footage from a real 2013 disaster in both the viral horror film and the science fiction series, Travelers.
In 2013, a runaway train derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Québec, causing an oil spill that turned into a fire, destroying a portion of the town and killing 47 people. High school ethics teacher Guillaume Bouchard first noticed the footage being used in place of a fictional explosion in London in Travelers, CBC reports, and now other viewers have spotted what appears to be the same footage used on a fictional news TV report in Bird Box.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"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," Lac-Mégantic Mayor Julie Morin told CBC. "You can be sure we are going to follow up on this, and our citizens are on our side."
The footage was reportedly acquired through a New York City-based stock footage company called Pond 5, but Peacock Alley Entertainment, which produced Travelers, was apparently not aware of the clip's origins when the company used it in the series. Pond 5 did not immediately return Refinery29's request for comment.
While Netflix confirmed to CBC that the footage will be removed from Travelers, the company claimed it had yet to confirm if the footage used in Bird Box was indeed from the same tragic, real-life event. Netflix has yet to return Refinery29's request for comment.