The director of A Minecraft Movie, Jared Hess, has responded to the viral ‘chicken jockey’ trend — which sees cinema-goers chaotically reacting to a scene in the movie in increasingly OTT ways — and has described it as “hilarious”.
“It’s weird when you’re having too much fun and the cops get called,” Hess said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“It’s funny because I think it’s just literally cheering and throwing popcorn, which is so funny to me that cops are getting called for popcorn. Yeah, it’s hilarious.
“I’ve seen so many funny videos. It’s great, especially when people are climbing on their friends’ shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments. It’s like this crazy anticipation.”
The scene that sparked this trend involves a baby zombie being dropped onto the back of a chicken, to which Jack Black (as ‘Steve’) exclaims “chicken jockey!” to a stunned Jason Momoa. The chicken-riding zombie-bub is a rare enemy one can encounter in the original generation-defining game the film is based on.
According to KnowYourMeme, the trend stemmed from the less-than-impressed initial fan response to the original trailer and, in true internet fashion, is dripping with the type of post-irony humour that Millennials and Gen Z have become accustomed to.
And, like the majority of things online, became even more elaborate and wild following the trend taking off on TikTok that has seen people throwing popcorn, drinks, confetti, and even releasing a live chicken into the movie theatre after the scene is shown.
Will every movie be meta in the future??? (Source: X)
While the ‘chicken jockey’ trend has seen a wide array of criticism and condemnation both online and by the unlucky cinema employees left to clean up the mess, (who would’ve thought??) Hess has reiterated that he is just happy “people are making memories” through the film.
“But, man, I’m just glad people are making memories with their friends and families,” Hess said.
“I’m just so happy that people are finding joy in going back to cinemas and seeing things as a community, as a group of people.
“It’s like we’ve become so isolated on our devices, and it’s just fun to experience things as a group of human beings. I think people are starved for that experience. So it’s fun that they’ve found it in this goofy movie that we’ve made.”
Hess with his family at the premiere of ‘A Minecraft Movie’. (Source: Getty Images)
A Minecraft Movie grossed over $313 million over its opening weekend, making it the highest cinematic debut for a video game film, despite panned critical reviews.
Hess is also known for his work on Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, which also starred Black in the main role.
