Loved by gamers, dreaded by parents, derided by critics: for the most part, the noise surrounding A Minecraft Movie has been nothing if not predictable.
What few could have anticipated, however, is that the big-screen version of the video game that has entranced a generation would spawn a new movie genre: interactive cinema.
Screaming, cheering and applause are merely the thin end of the wedge. Fights have broken out. Popcorn has been hurled – in every possible sense of the word. Cinemagoers have laid waste to auditoriums. People have been ejected and, in the US, police have even been called.
The chaos has been captured in countless videos posted on social media, many of which depict the stomach-churning aftermath of screenings, with empty movie theatres left covered in debris and vomit.
At the root of it all is a scene from the film that depicts Aquaman star Jason Momoa, who plays washed-up gaming champion Garret ‘The Garbage Man’ Garrison, going head-to-head in a ring fight with a baby zombie riding a chicken.
The latter is a character from the game, albeit one who features rarely, that chases and attempts to kill players and virtual villagers.
As the zombie appears after being dropped into the ring in a wooden crate, the Jumanji and Kung Fu Panda star Jack Black, in the role of player character Steve, announces: ‘Chicken jockey!’ – at which point all hell breaks loose both on and off screen.
The phenomenon started as a viral TikTok trend but is rapidly acquiring a life of its own, with each new audience emulating the last – to the dismay of parents and cinema staff alike.
‘What is it with some teenagers?’ demanded one 34-year-old mother from south-west London, writing on the social media platform Nextdoor.
‘A TikTok trend of clapping, cheering and shouting every other minute ruined our film. I can remember going to the cinema with friends and at that age I would never be so inconsiderate in a public place.
‘A few groups got kicked out, some in school uniform.
‘My nine-year-old twins said children at the nursery in their school act better. They were really looking forward to watching the film. We have been invited to watch it again.
‘Be warned there is a trend around with water being thrown about too.’
An 11-year-old cinemagoer who attended a performance at the same cinema reported no such problems, however, and for other parents the reaction has been more one of detached bemusement.
Roger Clark, the Irish-American actor, likened his experience of watching the film Stateside to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the 1975 cult classic that prompted fans to don costumes, yell out lines, and throw toast at the screen.
‘[I am] still processing what I saw,’ Clark, who himself played a video game character in the acclaimed 2018 action-adventure Red Dead Redemption II, wrote on social media after catching an early performance with his children at the weekend.
‘The only cinematic experience I can compare the audience participation to is Rocky Horror, except it’s with teenagers and their phones and the movie is not even a weekend old.
‘I had no idea what was happening at first, much to my sons’ laughter. Then I started to twig and I now know I have no idea what constitutes a hit at the box office.
‘There is literally no reliable predictor any more.
‘High school kids and adolescents alike screaming random Jack Black lines because of YouTube shorts and TikToks. Never seen anything like that before.’
On that score, Clark is not alone. On the front line are the beleaguered cinema staff left to clear up the nauseating debris, many of whom have been heckled and abused during performances while attempting to keep order.
One young employee in the US even claimed on social media to have been ‘threatened with a gun’ and another claiming the film’s opening weekend had been ‘a living nightmare’.
Just five days into the movie’s release, British cinemas are warning that unruly behaviour will not be tolerated.
At the Witney branch of Cineworld in Oxfordshire, viewers have been greeted with a stern warning about their conduct.
‘Any form of anti-social behaviour, especially anything that may disturb other guests such as loud screaming, clapping and shouting will not be tolerated,’ reads a customer notice.
‘Anyone who is found to be acting in this manner will be removed from the screening and not entitled to a refund.’
A Reel cinema in the Hampshire market town of Fareham has issued a similar caution to potential troublemakers.
‘To ensure everyone has the best possible cinema experience, we’re increasing our monitoring of screens during performances,’ said a spokesman. ‘Disruptive behaviour, including taking part in TikTok trends, before, during, or after a screening will not be tolerated.
‘Anyone causing disruption will be asked to leave, and where necessary, the police will be called.’
Cineworld has now moved to embrace the chaos by offering dedicated ‘chicken jockey’ screenings at which viewers will be free to express themselves in more boisterous fashion.
‘To make sure everyone has a blast, we ask that all cinemagoers respect cinema etiquette,’ a Cineworld spokesperson said of the Minecraft movie.
‘For fans wanting to whoop, yelp and clap their way through this block-busting adventure, we have created special Chicken Jockey 4DX screenings at Cineworld cinemas nationwide.’
Amid all the hoo-ha, A Minecraft Movie has enjoyed a buoyant opening, taking $301 million (£235 million) globally. Box-office takings in the US of $157 million set a new record for a video game adaptation.
In an interview between Black and Momoa for the US ticketing company Fandango, the Aquaman actor described filming the chicken jockey scene as ‘humiliating’ and ‘very challenging’.
‘I had to use a lot of imagination,’ said Momoa. ‘But when I saw the movie, hilarious, the best. It’s one of the funniest moments.’
Clearly not everyone has seen the funny side.
