Disney sent a letter to theatre and movie chains worldwide urging them to warn customers that ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ could trigger epileptic seizures.
“Out of an abundance of caution, 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 letter reads.
Emily Suzanne Jones, a 19-year-old retail employee in New Orleans who suffers from epilepsy, said strobing from the film was so bad it forced her to leave the movie in the first 30 minutes and she suffered a seizure in the hallway. Jones said she likely averted a much worse situation by taking a quick dose of her anti-seizure medication.
Another viewer, Megan Wharry, a 23-year-old office assistant in Stockton, who also has epilepsy, said she managed to sit through the movie even though it triggered both a migraine and a pre-seizure episode medically termed an “aura.”
Several Twitter users also said they had seizures or witnessed people having seizures in the theatre they were in as a result of the film, according to New York Post.
