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Spoiler alert! The following reveals key plot points from"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." Stop reading now if you don't want to know.

When they say don't feed the trolls, it's implied that you shouldn't make movies catered to their every whim, either.

Like politics and journalism, Hollywood movies inspire their fair share of abusive and abhorrent behavior online. These trolls aren't just expressing negative views of a movie they're campaigning to take that movie down at the box office and to hurt the people who made it.

But in the quest to please all potential moviegoers, there has seemingly been an alarming trend in filmmaking of late that is starting to trickle into theaters: creating films designed to satisfy the most hateful, abusive segments of the internet.

'Star Wars': 'The Rise of Skywalker' is getting the worst reviews since 'Phantom Menace'

'Sonic the Hedgehog': Trailer re-do earns praise from fans who criticized first look

One of trolls' complaints about Daisy Ridley's Rey: She couldn't possibly be important to "Star Wars" if her parents were junk traders.(Photo: Disney)

One of the most toxicgroup of fans online is a certain segment of the "Star Wars" fandom, and the new film will all but make them giddy."Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,"directed by J.J. Abrams, concludes the latest trilogy about the Skywalker clan that was last seen onscreen in 2017's "The Last Jedi," directed by Rian Johnson. "Jedi" is a film that is systemically hated by many trolls. "Skywalker" makes many choices that are counter to what "Jedi" established, and containsso much fan service it might as well have been made by them.

Many complaints about "Jedi"are either subtly or overtly sexist and racist. The men are emasculated. The women are too powerful. The characters of color don't belong. Rey can't be important if her parents were junk traders.Many complaints are more about story and character, arguing that the film flew in the face of "Star Wars" tradition and broke the rules of the universe.An alt-right troll claimedcredit for tanking the film's audience score on popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes (the site has denied this), and there was intense racist, sexist harassment aimed atKelly Marie Tran, who played Resistance fighter Rose Tico.

Spoilers!How 'The Rise of Skywalker' is a final 'Star Wars' tribute to Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia

Ranked: All 11 'Star Wars' movies, including 'The Rise of Skywalker'

Sparks fly in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" between Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and Finn (John Boyega).(Photo: DAVID JAMES)

It'san awfully big coincidence that so many of the gripes about "Jedi from the bowels of the internet were heeded in "Skywalker." Its a coincidence that Tran's Roseis sidelined completely in this film. Its a coincidence that Rey is suddenly the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine. Its a coincidence that Han (Harrison Ford), Luke (Mark Hamill), Lando (Billy Dee Williams) and even Wedge Antilles (Denis Lawson) all return, some from beyond the grave.

Whether or not "Skywalker" was a direct response to the backlash against "Jedi," it is undeniably a retreat from the risks Johnson took with that film, landing the franchise so safely it becomes boring and messy. The film looks and feels like it was designed by committee, with too many acts, too many fight scenes and too little emotional resonance. It was trying to please everyone and offend no one.

'Ghostbusters: Afterlife': The trailer is here, with Paul Rudd and a 'creepy old farmhouse'

More 'Star Wars': How director Rian Johnson's 'Last Jedi' backlash inspired a 'Knives Out' internet troll

The redesigned Sonic the Hedgehog, shown in a still from the latest movie trailer.(Photo: PARAMOUNT PICTURES)

This trend goes beyond an overly cautious "Star Wars" film. Two films that haven't even been released yet, "Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," are heading down this same path.

"Sonic" (in theatersFeb. 14) has admittedly been influenced by online reaction.When the first trailer for the live-action film about the video-game characterwas released online, the backlash was swift and vitriolic. In particular, fans took issue with the humanoid appearance of the CGI Sonic. The response was loud enough, apparently, that the studio reversed course immediately, with director Jeff Fowler tweeting that the character would be redesigned.

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" will be the second attempt at revisitingthe 1980s "Ghostbusters" franchise. The first was Paul Feig's 2016reboot "Ghostbusters," featuring a primarilyfemale cast, which became a slight box-office disappointment and the victim of an organized troll campaign, particularly a racist one directed at star Leslie Jones.

"Afterlife" (out July 10)is directed by original director Ivan Reitman's son Jason and stars Paul Rudd, andthe first trailer revealed an achingly sombertone with littlelevity. The message to fans of the Feig movie appeared to be: The studio didn't take "Ghostbusters," and the man children who cried that it "ruined their childhoods," seriously enough. Now just look how seriously they're taking it.

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife," hitting theaters in 2020, will have original and new cast members.(Photo: COLUMBIA PICTURES)

As loud as online voices can be, they are not usually indicative of what the greater population thinks.Hatred for "Jedi"is a distinctly online phenomenon. Despite alow user rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie receivedan "A" from moviegoers on Cinemascore. The movie didn't make as much money as "The Force Awakens," but it did make a cool $1.3 billion at the global box office. But, sure, everyone hates it.

It seems uncanny,bad forbusiness and terrible for storytelling for any kind of mass-produced productto try to capture the attention of so few people. The rest of us are left wanting."Skywalker" is getting eviscerated by critics in large part because of its undoing of "Jedi." How many more movies can we redesign via trending Twitter topics? Many thought Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman" was too long, so maybe Netflix should cut an hour because some anonymous hashtag said so.

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Although the "Sonic" director explicitly stated his movie's redo was the result of online response, we can't know for sure about "Ghostbusters" or "Skywalker." And there is theslim possibility thatthe first trailer for "Ghostbusters" could be a head fake in terms of its tone.

But even if the storytelling choices had nothing to do with the online discourse, they skirt too close to it. Like a child who throws a temper tantrum in the store for a piece of candy, we shouldn't reward those who abuse internet platforms with moviescurated to their tastes, even if the parent was going to give the kid the candy bar anyway. It doesn't help make good movies, it doesn't help clean up the internet wasteland, and it certainly isn't helping casual moviegoers enjoy a well-produced film.

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Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/12/20/star-wars-rise-skywalker-ghostbusters-afterlife-sonic-hollywood-trolls/2690020001/

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Was 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' made to please 'The Last Jedi' trolls? It sure seems like it - USA TODAY

Writer-director Rian Johnson took inspiration from his favorite Agatha Christie mysteries for Knives Out, which has has been holding its own with adult audiences at the fall box office. But he told the crowd at Deadlines recent The Contenders New York that he also wanted to write a modern-day original.

In the tradition of Christie ensembles, the all-star cast of the Lionsgate film plays possible suspects in a murder mystery. Daniel Craig is Benoit Blanc, the sleuth investigating the Thrombey family and their maid (Ana de Armas) after the death of patriarch author Harlan (Christopher Plummer). Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell play the Thrombeys. They represent the 1%, with some specific 2019 digressions. For example young Jacob (Martell) is an alt-right online troll.

We see it today, its usually an Agatha Christie adaptation, Johnson, joined onstage by his producer Ram Bergman, told the DGA Theater crowd of Academy and guild voters. Its usually a period piece set in Britain. Its easy to forget that when she was writing, its not like she was a heavy political writer, but she was always engaging with contemporary British society of her time through her characters.

He added: I love the Agatha Christie adaptations, but the notion of doing an original and really plugging it into 2019 America, not just giving it a modern skin but using this little microcosm to look at that, that seemed like that could be really interesting.

The mystery unfolds in the Thrombey house, which is a character unto itself. One day we saw a picture, we said, This looks like the house, Bergman said. I took Rian there while he was still writing and we zeroed in on the house, but it took us like months and months to actually negotiate a deal. We literally cemented it like two weeks before we started filming.

Check out the conversation in the video above.

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'Knives Out's Rian Johnson On The One Thing Missing From Modern Mysteries The Contenders NY Video - Deadline

Its time to have a national conversation about antisemitism. Not an abbreviated one that starts with neo-Nazis and ends with the alt-right. No, a real one.

For the mainstream media and many public officials (cough,Bill de Blasio, cough), its been convenient and even preferable to discuss antisemitism in that one, narrow way. Like a predictable movie, the narrative about American antisemitism has long been that its a far-right problem. Its true, the far-right has always been antisemitic. Ive yet to meet any Jew who would say otherwise.

The less convenient corollary is that antisemitism is not confined to the far-right, not least because the political spectrum is increasingly egg-shaped, especially where Jew hatred is concerned. When discussing Jews, the language of the far-left and far-right is increasingly overlapping, which is no coincidence, according to a new reportfrom Zachor Legal Institute and StopAntisemitism.org. Its why activist Linda SarsourreferencesDavid Duke, whopraisesRep. Ilhan Omar.

Antisemitism is the great unifier, ideologically aligning those who may dress differently but think similarly. Unless and until thats widely accepted, it will be significantly harder to push antisemitism back to societys fringes and we must. Its not only a matter of safeguarding the lives of Jewish citizens, but also of protecting American democracy. Widespread acceptance of conspiracy theories like antisemitism is not a mark of a healthy, vibrant society.

In little more than a year, antisemitism has turned deadly three times for American Jews. On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman murdered 11 Jews gathered for prayer at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. On April 27, 2019, another gunman attacked the Chabad of Poway, California, taking the life of another praying Jew. Then last Tuesday, three people were murdered at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The victims in Jersey City included store owner Leah Minda Ferencz (age 33), Ferenczs cousin Moshe Deutsch (age 24), and store employee Douglas Rodrguez (age 49). The attackers also killed Detective Joseph Seals, a father of five. These deaths were totally unnecessary. Yet as heinous as this attack was, knowingthe intended target was likely the 50 children attending the Jewish school beside the grocery store is even more horrific.

For Jews whove watched antisemitic violence rise first overseas and now here at home, the Jersey City attack recalls the assault on the Paris areaHyper Cacherin January 2015, when an Islamist gunman killed three customers and an employee at the kosher market, which burned down precisely three years later. Such attacks are not random. They clearly target Jews.

Reportsindicatethat Jersey City attackers Francine Graham and David Anderson attended an anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelite church in Harlem. Aneighbor also reported overhearingAnderson repeatedly listening to recordings of Louis Farrakhan, a virulent antisemite with links to the initialleadership teamof theWomens March and congressional Democrats, who has been photographed with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That is to say, the attackers appear to have been inspired by sources that were neither white supremacist nor of the right.

Antisemitism takes numerous forms. For the safety of American Jews, its time society takes all those threats seriously.

So its not helpful when New York Citys mayor doubles down on his insistencethat antisemitism is a right-wing problem,tellingNew York public radiosBrian Lehrer last Friday, We have to have an honest conversation. There are folks who identify on the left who are saying and doing antisemitic things although it has not taken a systematic violent form. I think there is a lot of evidence in this country, not just in terms of antisemitism, but violent acts in general thats coming from the white supremacy movement.

This is an epic refusal to acknowledge reality.Ongoing attacks on visibly Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn have been violent. They have occurred for years now, and white supremacists are not perpetrating them. Just this month in Brooklyn, a Jewish womanwas called the F Jew with the wig, as another woman threatened to throw her onto subway tracks, and three teens stoned a Jewish girls school bus, shattering a window.

Downplaying deadly attacks on Hasidic Jews and explaining the Jersey City attacks as some sort of response to tensions in the community or gentrification by relative newcomers, as the Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker have, would be considered victim-blaming in other contexts.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, police are investigating the Friday night attack on a Persian synagogue in Beverly Hills. Bizarrely, in spite ofreligious ritual items, such as Torahs, beingmistreatedinside asynagogue, police say there are no overt signs of antisemitism. Have words lost all meaning?

It just shouldnt be this hard for our leaders and the media to recognize and condemn antisemitism. Without widespread pushback, antisemitism could become normalized.

Historys already broadcast numerous episodes of this same show. A society that cant truly tolerate its Jewish minority quickly becomes a dangerous place for other religious, racial, and ethnic minority groups, too. If were going to prevent a rerun of some of historys worst chapters, we must stop antisemitism now.

Read more here:
Pretending Racism Against Jews Is Only The Right's Problem Is Fueling It - The Federalist

Jewish Americans are alarmed by the increase of anti-Semitism in their communities. The fear is troublesome by many in America, who would have never imagined this level of hatred before. Last week, terrorists associated with the Black Hebrew Israelites targeted a Jewish supermarket in Jersey City, leaving two dead. On Saturday, a criminal broke into Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, destroying Torah scrolls and vandalizing the property. New York City, home to 1.9 million American Jews, has witnessed a 162% increase in anti-Semitic incidents on its subway cars and stations. Just last month, witnesses saw kill all Jews, graffiti at the 103 subway stop.

Horrific events against Jews, whether vandalization or murder, are on the rise in America from coast to coast, targeting every other American city. American Jews have seen the fall and rise of ani-Semitism in Europe, including England, but no one could have imagined the same level of hatred against Jewish people on American soil.

The hatred isnt just from the right or the left; the hatred comes from every direction and political spectrum. There has been a significant rise in neo-Nazi groups in America, but not all these events can be linked to neo-Nazism. The issue is more challenging than ever because there isnt one group against Jewish communities. It would be easy to say the sudden escalation of racist and nativist extremist groups like the so-called alt-right, the KKK, and neo-Nazis are the results for the tragedies, but these are not the only perpetrators targeting Jewish communities.

After Charlottesville, we recognized that the Alt-Right and White Supremacy movements are on a rapid rise. In 2015, researchers affiliated with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), surveyed law enforcement officers across the country, asking whether officers viewed different types of extremists as a serious terrorist threat; their results revealed a belief that Sovereign Citizens pose a more significant threat than any other groups. Sovereign Citizens, regardless of their race, carry deep-rooted anti-Semitic beliefs.

The problem has only gotten worse in 2019 because we dont know who could target Jewish communities next. It isnt a neo-Nazi thing anymore; it isnt just a Sovereign Citizen hatred; it doesnt only apply to radical Jihadists. There are currently over 25 active groups of White Nationalists and neo-Nazis on Twitter. The American Freedom Party, American Nazi Party, Aryan Brotherhood, David Irving, Texas Nationalist Movement, and the Traditionalist Worker Party just to name a few. A few names within the White Supremacist groups and the list continues growing more prominent and more disconcerting.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently issued its annual report on hate crimes in the United States and Jews remain the most targeted religious group in the country by far. They are victims of 58.1% of all religious hate despite comprising less than 2% of the U.S. population. Just last year, a white supremacist stabbed his Jewish gay friend to death and left him in a grave. while in the same year, we witnessed the horrific massacre on Shabbat in Pittsburgh. Whether vandalization or murder, incidents targeting Jews are on the rise. They are happening in New York and Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Georgia. These acts are all over the country, without one type of perpetrator to target.

In the past, American Jews felt safe at home and empathy for Jewish people in European countries such as France. We witnessed the rapid migration of many French Jews to Israel for safety. We were saddened to discover that many Jewish communities in Europe were hiding their identity to feel safer out in public. We never imagined a day that we, American Jews, might have to exercise the same precautions in America to stay safe. The right solution is not to live in fear or hide. We must stand up, united, and fight back the hatred. We must push our members of Congress to take actions that make our communities safer.

We must push the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including local and state law enforcement agencies, to do a better job of identifying and arresting criminals. Words arent enough. We need our lawmakers and authorities to take the right steps towards keeping our communities safer. Together, we can make a difference at a time, when we are, once again, the target of hatred and bigotry. The American Jewry will again stand up, strong and united, to defeat hatred with love. We will not be scared, nor will we be quiet because if we dont stand up against such hateful groups today, things will be worse tomorrow.

Sheridan Bahar is an M.A. graduate at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University with research, analytical, and intelligence experience. He Possesses social, political, economic, historical, and cultural knowledge of the Middle East with fluency in Farsi, Dari, and Hebrew languages.

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American Jewry, under threat | Sheridan Bahar - The Times of Israel

PewDiePie at the European Premiere of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' on December 16, 2015 in London.

Topline: After facing years of criticism for his supposed ties to the alt-right, YouTube megastar PewDiePie announced over the weekend that hes taking a break from the platform and deleted his Twitter account, saying that hes tired.

Key background: Kjellberg is YouTubes most popular and recognizable stars, but hes been accused of anti-Semitism and racism over the years. In 2017, Disney stopped advertising with his channel after he paid actors to hold up a sign reading Death to All Jews in several videos (he said it was a joke gone too far). Months later he was caught saying the n-word in a gaming stream and later apologized.

White nationalists have since embraced Kjellberg. The Christchurch shooter used a popular alt-right meme subscribe to PewDiePie in a livestream before he went on to kill 51 people. And in a botched attempt to rehabilitate his image in September, Kjellberg rescinded a planned donation to the Anti-Defamation League, an organization combating anti-Semitism, after saying the donation didnt feel genuine.

Tangent: PewDiePie became the first individual creator to reach 100 million subscribers on YouTube in August, making him one of the most popular creators on the platform. Hes also one of the wealthiest. According to Forbes, Kjellberg raked in $15.5 million in 2018.

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Im Tired: Controversial Star PewDiePie Is Taking A Break From YouTube, Deletes Twitter - Forbes