Why Minecraft Fans Are Trashing Movie Theaters During One Specific Scene

This is why we can’t have nice things, people. The recent release of “A Minecraft Movie” (which /Film’s Witney Seibold reviewed rather positively for us here) has been nothing short of a boon for beleaguered theaters these days, waking up a very sleepy box office that hasn’t even been able to rely on the usual blockbuster fare to help keep things afloat. But as proof that there’s always a string attached, a viral social media trend has cropped up around the immensely popular video game movie that’s causing no shortage of headaches for theater staff.

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If you’ve somehow avoided seeing all those clips on Twitter (or, if you’re a total nerd, X) and TikTok, this is what you’ve been missing. It should come as no surprise that, given how well “A Minecraft Movie” has been crushing it at multiplexes, theaters have been absolutely packed with young, excitable fans who’ve basically grown up with the game as a staple of their childhoods — and, yes, just typing that sentence out makes this Millennial feel unbearably old. But maybe there’s such a thing as being too excitable, as videos have flooded social media showing audiences completely flipping out over one particular scene in the movie. We’re talking “Avengers: Endgame” or “Spider-Man: No Way Home” levels of hysteria here, folks. Younger moviegoers have packed into theaters for “A Minecraft Movie,” amped themselves up like they’re attending a concert, and downright trashed entire screenings with popcorn and other debris during a very specific scene involving, uh, chickens.

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Police had to kick several kids out of the theater during a ‘MINECRAFT’ showing after their reaction to the ‘Chicken Jockey’ scene

Read our review: https://t.co/uuggEo3o94 pic.twitter.com/pZD9eywVjt

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 6, 2025

they brought a live chicken pic.twitter.com/t2FELBbEZt

— 🕐HOURLY🕑 shitpost (@hourly_shitpost) April 9, 2025

This has become such an online sensation that overworked theater employees are (rightfully) grumbling about having to clean up the carnage, director Jared Hess has been asked to comment on it, and even the police have been called in on several occasions to calm things down and kick out the rowdiest instigators. Oh, and on at least one occasion, someone actually snuck in a live chicken into the theater (see above). Wild. Here’s the lowdown on what’s going on with “A Minecraft Movie.”

If this has all been a psy-op just to get grown adults to write about an extremely rare occurrence in a video game for children, well, it’s working. The Hollywood Reporter published an entire investigation into this phenomenon and, as with most teenage internet memes, all the noise surrounding this “Minecraft” trend is mostly being done ironically. In the game, only the luckiest of players have been able to witness instances involving the so-called “chicken jockey” — essentially, a baby zombie that rides a chicken and can kill you. I don’t know, folks, but it’s apparently very exciting. Naturally, “A Minecraft Movie” adapts this aspect of the game at a crucial point in the film … and, once word got out about this, fans took to TikTok to encourage each other to come prepared.

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Apparently, that mostly involves hordes of teenagers packing theaters to buy tickets (a very good thing!), buying loads of concessions (also good!), and promptly throwing their food and drinks in the air while screaming and filming the chaos on their phones in stunts designed to go viral on the internet (not great at all). According to THR, individual movie theaters have had to begin issuing warnings about proper moviegoing etiquette in pre-show reels for “A Minecraft Movie,” while overwhelmed theater employees have been venting about their experiences on Reddit — a continuation of a pandemic-era trend where, as any ardent film fans can tell you, it seems like moviegoing audiences have completely forgotten how to behave in public spaces.

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Is this little more than an example of harmless, hilarious online silliness … or does Film Twitter need to go to war against “A Minecraft Movie” and its noisy target demographic? While major theater chains haven’t weighed in just yet with any official statements telling people to chill the heck out (and, according to THR, they likely won’t because those sorts of finger-wagging messages only tend to exacerbate the situation), director Jared Hess believes this isn’t that big a deal. The filmmaker was asked about the trend in a recent interview with the New York Times, who described his reaction once the videos began rolling in on social media: “It’s way too funny. It’s been a total blast. I’m just laughing my brains out every time someone sends me a new video.”

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At a time when directors and studios and theater owners alike are desperate to make movies that actually motivate people to see them in theaters, Hess’ approach is exactly the tact I’d expect. Nobody wants to be the scold who discourages anyone from wanting to see “A Minecraft Movie” and turn the experience into a pop culture meme, but there’s still that nagging issue of disrupting other paying customers and making the lives of already-overworked theater employees that much harder. But as Hess went on to diplomatically put it:

“Just the fact that people are making memories at the movies — that’s what it’s all about. That’s why we do it. I never could have anticipated this level of passion and fun and craziness that’s happening.”

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For those of us who like to crow about preserving the sanctity of the moviegoing experience, that genie is well and truly out of the bottle. Granted, “A Minecraft Movie” probably isn’t the type of film we’d necessarily expect that from anyway. At this point, anything that gets people into theaters is probably a net positive … but maybe just leave those live chickens where they belong, yeah? 

“A Minecraft Movie” is currently playing in theaters. In case you missed it, here’s our breakdown of the film’s post-credits scene. Solana Token Creator