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Amazon MGM Studios has issued a trigger warning ahead of the release of its latest film.
Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice, is set to hit cinemas on 23 August, with Amazon opting to warn viewers of “upsetting” scenes before the #MeToo thriller arrives in theatres.
Inspired by Jeffrey Epstein, the film stars Naomi Ackie as a young woman who is invited to join a tech billionaire, played by Kravitz’s fiancé Channing Tatum, on his private island.
Sharing a trigger warning statement on social media ahead of the film’s release, the production company said: “We are proud to finally share Blink Twice with audiences in theatres worldwide this week.
“Blink Twice is a psychological thriller about the abuse of power, while this is a fictionalised movie, it contains mature themes and depictions of violence - including sexual violence,” they outlined.
“This may be upsetting or triggering for some viewers,” Amazon acknowledged, recommending affected viewers to visit BlinkTwiceResources.com for materials that could provide support.
Many users praised the production company for opting to warn viewers of the film’s potentially distressing content before they reached the cinema.
“This kind of notice should definitely become a standard for movies going forward,” one person said, while another fan praised: “Thank you for this message and I hope more movies will do this in the near future.”
Meanwhile, other commenters claimed Amazon’s trigger warning was “handholding” for viewers and gave “spoilers” of the film’s content, which prompted significant backlash.
“The amount of men in this comment section complaining about a trigger warning is alarming,” one person responded to the criticism.
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“If MEN hadn’t committed horrific crimes against women this wouldn’t be needed.”
When Kravitz initially announced Blink Twice in 2022, it was titled Pussy Island.
At the time, she defended her refusal to censor the title, telling The Wall Street Journal: “It represents this time where it would be acceptable for a group of men to call a place that, and the illusion that we’re out of that time now.”
Earlier this month, Kravitz revealed she had conceded to changing the title after the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it wouldn’t advertise a film called Pussy Island.
“It was made very clear to me that ‘pussy’ is a word that we, our society, are not ready to embrace yet,” Kravitz told Entertainment Weekly.
“There were a lot of roadblocks along the way, whether it be the MPAA not wanting to put it on a poster, or a billboard, or a kiosk; movie theatres not wanting to put it on a ticket.”
Kravitz said that she later discovered “interestingly enough, after researching it, women were offended by the word.”
“And women seeing the title were saying, ‘I don’t want to see that movie,’ which is part of the reason I wanted to try and use the word, which is trying to reclaim the word, and not make it something that we’re so uncomfortable using,” she said.
“But we’re not there yet. And I think that’s something I have the responsibility as a filmmaker to listen to,” Kravitz acknowledged. “I care about people seeing the film, and I care about how it makes people feel.”
Blink Twice premieres in theaters on August 23.
