Incredibles 2 seizure warning: Disney’s ‘unprecedented move’ over epilepsy concerns

The Disney and Pixar sequel scored the biggest opening weekend of all time for an animated movie in the US, and on Friday, Disney sent an advisory to cinemas around the country.

The company reportedly asked cinemas screening the movie to advise customers of one scene with a lot of flashing lights.

The memo has been shared widely on social media and says: “Incredibles 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights, which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.”

AMC supervisor Mauricio Mencia, who works at a branch in Los Angeles, told USA Today: “I’ve never seen something like that happen.”

It’s been noted that Twitter user VeronicaLewis can be credited with Disney’s swift actions.

She posted a thread to Twitter on Friday night, which went viral and seemingly caught the attention of Disney themselves.

“HEALTH ALERT I haven’t seen this mentioned in a lot of places, but the new Incredibles 2 movie (#incredibles2) is filled with tons of strobe/flashing lights that can cause issues for people with epilepsy, migraines, and chronic illness. This thread is spoiler free,” she wrote.

“So, the villain’s weapon of choice in the movie is bright white lights that are at a rapidly flashing/strobing frequency, with the intent to disorient people. One of these scenes lasts over 90 seconds with continuous strobe light, other scenes last anywhere from 5-30 seconds.

“These scenes are also spread out across the movie and often come without warning. My descriptive audio device warned me about the larger scenes, but other times it was light strobe lights came out of nowhere for no reason.”

She added: “I am not calling for a boycott of Incredibles 2, or to change the movie. It is very well done, and the strobe lights are an important point in the plot. I just wish Disney/Pixar and theaters alike would issue a warning that the movie contains several scenes with strobe lights.”

Lewis later followed-up her thread to thank Disney and Pixar for taking swift action.

“I would like to thank @DisneyPixar and @DisneyStudios for listening to people’s concerns and putting up warnings for the flashing lights in #Incredibles2,” she said.

“It is an INCREDIBLE movie, and people can now make an informed decision either to watch the movie now or wait for the DVD.”

Incredibles 2 is out in the UK on July 13.