Movie theater employees are struggling to keep up with the destruction caused by fans throwing food and breaking seats at showings of “A Minecraft Movie.”
Since its release on April 4, this movie has been a sensation, attracting crowds of enthusiastic fans.
“A Minecraft Movie” is a film based on Mojang’s popular sandbox video game, Minecraft. While fans are divided between enjoying the movie for what it is or criticizing it for misrepresenting their favorite franchise, the film has made about $815 million since entering the box office.
Clips from the film featuring the “chicken jockey,” a rare monster from the game, and Jack Black’s musical number “Lava Chicken” have gone viral across platforms like YouTube and TikTok, encouraging moviegoers to make a spectacle in the theater.
David Ernie, a Cinépolis employee for five years, said that the film has brought more chaos than the theater had seen in years.
“Kids are sneaking in without tickets, being rowdy in the lobby, screaming during the film, and launching popcorn or confetti everywhere. During the ‘chicken jockey’ scene, they’re jumping up and down and breaking their seats,” Ernie said.
Theater staff across the country are spending more than three hours cleaning up popcorn and drinks thrown across seats and at the screen, according to an article by Fox 5 Atlanta.
Brandt Gully, owner of Springs Cinema & Taphouse, said in the same article about this situation that full ICEEs were thrown at cinema screens.
Cinépolis staff like Ernie are weary of shifts for the film, not knowing if they’ll get splattered with drinks or spend hours deep cleaning the theater.
Some theaters are projecting disclaimers before the film starts, warning that anyone who throws popcorn or confetti will be escorted out.
Cinema Six now prohibits concessions for moviegoers under 18, but promises to lift the ban after the trend has died down.
“Even if we tried to check tickets before selling popcorn, kids sneak it in anyway. It’s also not fair to the rest of the audience to place a ban,” Ernie said.
Figen Hosgur saw the film with her son and his friends at the Cinépolis Luxury Cinema a few weeks after its release.
“We had a fun time. Kids in our group actually cheered when characters like Steve and the ‘chicken-jockey’ from the game appeared in the movie,” Hosgur said.
Despite the viral antics, Hosgur’s experience was stress-free.
“I heard people brought live chickens into the movie theater. Employees had to stop the film because the animals were running loose in the aisles and creating a lot of noise,” Hosgur said.
Max Salay, a freshman at Design Tech and longtime Minecraft fan, saw the film on opening weekend.
“The experience was very enjoyable, and I’ve never been to a movie where people reacted so strongly. Myself and others clapped at the viral scenes from the trailer and threw popcorn, creating a huge mess,” Salay said.
Moviegoer Carrie Tilley waited to see the film with her daughter a few weeks after opening weekend, after hearing about the chaos it was causing in theaters.
“With visions of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ in my head, I was nervous about the ‘A Minecraft Movie’ antics. I prepared for the worst whenever a scene from the trailer played or Jack Black broke into song, but it turned out fine,” Tilley said.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a 1975 cult-classic horror film known for audience participation and costumed viewings.
“‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ was a terrible movie, but people came for the ‘extra show’ the audience brought when they dressed up and sang along. ‘A Minecraft Movie’ already has a large cult following, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s considered a cultural phenomenon in the years to come,” Tilley said.
