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Star Wars Prequels Movies

Disney Warns 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Effects Could Cause Seizures (deadline.com) 150

"The Walt Disney Co. is asking exhibitors worldwide to warn moviegoers that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may pose a seizure risk to audience members with photosensitive epilepsy," reports Deadline: In an unusual move, Disney has sent a letter to theater owners and operators worldwide with a recommendation that special steps should be taken to alert moviegoers about the visual effects and flashing lights in the J.J. Abrams-directed interstellar adventure. "Out of an abundance of caution," the letter opens, "we recommend that you provide at your venue box office and online, and at other appropriate places where your customers will see it, a notice containing the following information: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker contains several sequences with imagery and sustained flashing lights that may affect those who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or have other photosensitivities."

The Burbank-based Disney is also working with the Epilepsy Foundation, which issued an advisory of its own and commended the studio for taking the initiative on the audience safety issue. About 3.4 million Americans have epilepsy and about three percent have photosensitivity issues that puts them at risk of seizures triggered by flashing lights or other visual patterns.

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Disney Warns 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Effects Could Cause Seizures

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  • From what I have read online this is going to be one GREAT movie. I can't wait!

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      It will be meh and full of SJW shit instead of, you know, an actual movie.
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by AK Marc ( 707885 )
        JJ doesn't do SJW. Sure, Ohura was a stronger character than the '60s censors allowed a Black woman to be, but he showed women in underwear in both of his first Star Treks, just for fan service. That's the opposite of SJW. Just because he's not as sexist as Michael Bay doesn't make him SJW.
        • The character is "Uhura". Even before I started to learn to speak Swahili, I knew that word - meaning "freedom". I'm pretty sure I knew it before there was even a first Star Trek movie, so I guess I must have picked it up from the on-screen credits (because that was also decades before I had a video recorder or player of any sort). It can't have been well hidden.

          The "twist" that has been put on the Kirk-Uhura sexual dynamics from the "Star Trek - Hogwarts" crossover movies (I don't track the franchise clos

    • I personally don't understand some people's hate for the new movies. Some parts I didn't like either, but then again some parts I did. I don't see why so many people these days have to be all or nothing about enjoyment of a thing, instead of taking the bits they do like and just ignoring the rest as irrelevant.

      Personally I'm looking forward to the whole original trilogy truly ending because it will give room to let other material breathe. Like for instance the Mandalorian, which I am enjoying more in tot

      • The movies are average at best and because people eat it up they're going squeeze every penny from the franchise.

      • by Misagon ( 1135 )

        It's not about how the movies lacked in quality, but more about how in and around the new movies, Lucasfilm's has shown disrespect for the long-term fans.

        Unlike the prequel era, the current Star Wars does not have many good parts among the bad to pick. That is what has made The Mandalorian such a big deal.

      • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Monday December 09, 2019 @03:02AM (#59500018) Journal
        For me it's frustration rather than hate. The new SW movies are enjoyable; the frustration comes from seeing that slightly better writing might have given us great Star Wars movies instead of average ones. The base is there: good overall stories, great visuals (much preferred over the unmitigated CGI-storm of the second trilogy), and actors who do reasonably well with the material they've been given. But whatever is there is brought down by sloppy, careless and uninspired writing. In all fairness, that seems to be the case for a great many movies these days, that look promising and might have been good, then turn out to be another huge disappointment in the theater. Is the Writers Guild of America still on strike or something?

        So far I prefer the side stories; Rogue One felt like classic SW and Solo was interesting (though trying a bit too hard at times)
    • by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

      From what I have heard online the movie will give you seizures even without effects.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by geek ( 5680 )

      Because this generates press and now a whole swath of people will go to see it just to see what all the buzz is about. Or to have seizures in the hopes of a lawsuit.

    • It always seems like those effects that warrant epilepsy warnings also seem to induce headaches/migraines and nausea in others. Thus far the effects that been primarily about making the action hard to follow and masking poor visual effects or models.

      I feel like they're admitting to doing a lousy job on their CGI and blaming it on a small % of the population.

    • The movie needs to include rapid flickering, as that is how they present the subliminal messages of:

      1) This movie is awesome.
      2) Star Wars: The Last Jedi was awesome too!
      3) There are no politically-charged messages here, only unbiased and truthful social commentary presented through fiction!
      4) I want to buy the DVD!

    • Why not dial back the effects?

      It isnt going to cause seizures. This is just a desperate attempt to get people interested, essentially claiming "the special effects are a must see!"

      Fake news. Bullshit marketing.

      Transparent they are.

    • Why not dial back the effects?

      That's crazy talk.

      They might need additional warnings though: "WARNING: Special effects may cause seizures. And poor writing may cause foaming at the mouth, long-time fans take precautions."

  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Sunday December 08, 2019 @09:47PM (#59499510) Homepage

    Back in the 50s and 60's, they would make these kinds of announcements to convince people to SEE the movie -"Come see our cheesy horror movie, but e warned pregnant woman and children may feint."

    Now, they are more likely to do it to avoid being sued.

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday December 08, 2019 @09:51PM (#59499526)

    It's a controversial scene where Skywalker Pikachu is battling Dark Side Porygon.

  • Don't look here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
  • When has any JJ Abrams movie not included excessive lens flair and strobing effects? I can't wait to see what inanimate object he casts as the main character. A mining ship? A smoke monster, or his most riveting, a hatch. Directed, produced, and written. Proof it will be a stinker. He'll deliberately ask questions he doesn't answer. He thinks being a bad writer makes for a more compelling story. Nope, just makes you an incompetent storyteller.

    Part of the beauty of the first Star Wars is that it tel
    • They say misery loves company, so it's fitting that JJ is directing Star Wars.

      Star Trek deserved better than the JJ abominations that tried to cash out the brand.

      • by AK Marc ( 707885 )
        The problem with cash outs is that they probably didn't think of it that way. JJ saved Star Trek, might as well do that with Star Wars too. He kicked off renewed interest in Star Trek with an action-comedy that had no social commentary. Almost the exact opposite of Star Trek's origins. It didn't need to be Star Trek, and sadly, The Orville is a much better Start Trek than (JJ's) Star Trek is.

        But the second was getting closer to the original, with a plotline that roughly draws on an episode from TNG (Th
        • I'm not sure how taking established characters and devolving them akin to something more like Galaxy Quest is being a 'resurrector' of Star Trek. I see your point, but if all JJ is doing is shitting in a star-trek labeled box and peddling it until audiences don't care anymore, I don't see how that helps the brand in the long run.

          It's rather as if Obi Wan was scripted to tell dad jokes. It's completely immersion breaking, at least for me. I'd rather wait for the next season of Orville than subject myself to

  • by grasshoppa ( 657393 ) on Sunday December 08, 2019 @11:34PM (#59499740) Homepage

    This is little more than a marketing ploy. I salute and respect them for it, but let's be honest; it's just another channel upon which to market the movie.

    • Yep.

      Occam's razor: Disney's lawyers would never allow a "dangerous" movie to be shown to the public.

  • Won't go (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 ) on Monday December 09, 2019 @12:32AM (#59499832)
    Not because of photo-sensitive epilepsy, but because I'm sensitive to over hackneyed stories.
  • by daveime ( 1253762 ) on Monday December 09, 2019 @02:40AM (#59499992)
    Why the fuck is someone with photosensitive epilepsy going to watch a movie full of space explosions and brightly lit space ships set against the black background of space?

    Having seen 8 previous Star Wars, why would anyone expect this one to be different?
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Photosensitive epilepsy is usually only triggered by certain quite narrow frequencies of flashing for most people. It's usually not triggered by action movies that have random flashing all over the place, it has to be that specific frequency and repetitive.

      There are machines that can detect flashing at that frequency and they are used regularly in movie and TV production to ensure it is avoided.

      I've noticed that in some countries they reduce the effects of it too. For example when they have video containing

  • I always wondered, how do tv, film, video game developers determine if their product is likely to cause seizures? Is their some program you can run over a video feed to get some number on seizure likelihood? Is their some government cutoff on when you must start notifying your customers, is their a second tier when it is simply illegal to publish?

  • Been around since at least the 50's.
    • Wish I had seen your post earlier. You're 100% correct.

      All that's missing is the claim that some theaters will require moviegoers to sign a waiver or that they'll have doctors on site to treat people who are overcome by how awesome/exciting the movie is.

  • This is just the millennial version of 1950s B movies getting a random new title (that has nothing to do with the original film) and a new poster with callouts for "SHOCKING AND HORRIFYING!", "Doctors will be present to treat cases of extreme fright!", "7 dead so far in test screenings!!!", "This Saturday night only at the teenage sex hangout!", etc.

    They're trying desperately to drum up any excitement for this turd.

  • then why aren't they providing the announcement material, instead of making the theaters spend money on it?

Keep up the good work! But please don't ask me to help.

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