Footage from Beirut explosion used in trailer for The Creator.

I think it's a little morally questionable to use real footage like that from an event where many people lost their lives. I can understand using it as a guide for building your own cgi shockwaves and stuff but it kind of feels like they crossed a line there.

It’s just wrong.

Oh, I just watched this!

I’m pretty much aligned with what Niko said in it: if the point is entertaining value (as proven by the sci-fi stuff added to the shot), then I find it off-putting that someone is trying to sell me real-life suffering and death as sci-fi entertainment, enough that it makes me not want to go see the movie. Not out of protest, but because it’s just gross.

Don't movies and tv shows commonly use real footage of catastrophes or riots, for example, in news reports or to establish the state of the world?

The big question for me is, was this taken from the film or something just put together quickly for marketing purposes?

I remember Gareth Edwards other film, Rogue One, where marketing created that shot of a tie fighter confronting Jynn on the satellite dish platform. It was never intended to be in the film.