A Minecraft Movie had a great opening weekend in terms of box office numbers, but the staff at certain theaters—and one chicken—might describe the film's theater run differently.
As we reported earlier this week, young audiences have made a thing out of overreacting to a scene in which Jack Black shouts "chicken jockey" at a baby zombie riding a chicken, a phenomenon you'll very occasionally see in Minecraft, the game.
It's not the only Minecraft Movie moment being met with raucous behavior, but it's definitely the focal point, with shouting, screaming, and popcorn showers following the line in a number of clips posted to social media, including a couple that ended with police escorting kids out of the theater.
The chaos hasn't stopped now that we're past the opening weekend. The latest video to cross my social feeds (apparently uploaded first to TikTok, embedded on X below because the TikTok embed isn't working) shows an actual, live chicken being wielded in a theater.
they brought a live chicken pic.twitter.com/t2FELBbEZtApril 9, 2025
"It's safe to say we got kicked out," the uploader added on top of the video.
Young people are under a lot of pressure in this unstable world, which isn't a good excuse to bring a live chicken to a screening of A Minecraft Movie, but I do my best to be understanding.
Please be kind to animals. They are not videogame creatures.
And be kind to theater employees, too.
(Sorry for mentioning you after chickens, theater employees, it's just that a chicken is much less likely to be encountered in a movie theater than a movie theater employee, and we might need to set a low bar to start with.)
