'Incredibles 2' Seizure Warning Placed At Illinois Movie Theatres

ACROSS ILLINOIS — Marcus Theatres is joining the ranks of cinemas nationwide who are posting health-related warnings for anyone planning on seeing Disney's "Incredibles 2," especially those with photosensitive epilepsy or other sensitivity to photos. According to Disney, the Pixar movie opened in the U.S. on Friday to the biggest box office opening for an animated movie ever. However, this record didn't come without some reported health issues.

Due to the strobe effects from a character's weapon, there were several reports on social media of audience members becoming nauseous and reports of some people experiencing seizure.

As issues were reported from moviegoers, The Epilepsy Foundation released a statement on Saturday, urging Disney to issue warning about the lights featured in "Incredibles 2." Disney ended up encouraging theaters to post alerts inside or at the box office.

Marcus Theatres, a company that has several locations across Illinois and the Midwest, has posted warnings in their box offices.

Patch reached out to the company regarding the issue, and Mari Randa, Director of Marketing and Communications for Marcus Theatres responded, saying out of an abundance of caution, signage has been posted at the box office area at Marcus Theatres (pictured above).

Patch also reached out to New Vision Theatres as the company's locations include a few in Illinois.

"All of our New Vision locations will follow the protocol suggested by our representatives from Walt Disney Studios," Timothy Keefner, Director of Theatre Operations for New Vision Theatres, said in a statement to Patch. "Disney is supplying a warning trailer that will be added to the start of the film. Also, signage with the same warning is posted at the box office."

Keefner said the warning trailer contains the following statement:

“The feature presentation contains several sequences of flashing lights which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.”

The Epilepsy Foundation defines seizure as a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain which usually affects how a person appears or acts for a short time.

For more information and movie times, visit marcuscinemas.com, newvisiontheatres.com

Photo courtesy of Mari Randa, Marcus Theatres