There’s been some hand-wringing of late about the responses that A Minecraft Movie has been getting from audiences, some of which have, admittedly, involved inappropriate storage of livestock, human beings clambering atop other human beings, and videos in which kids use large bags of popcorn to transform regular theater workers’ lives into a sort of endless sweeping hell. You know who’s not worried about any of this? Minecraft director Jared Hess, because, hell, it’s not like people were doing this kind of thing for Gentlemen Broncos, right?
The Napoleon Dynamite director is all for the celebrations, including all the “Chicken jockey!” stuff, a meme in which attendees lose their minds because Jack Black yelled the words “Chicken jockey!” in the trailer, and then, consequently, in the full movie. “It’s weird when you’re having too much fun and the cops get called,” Hess said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, referencing a few viral instances of the fuzz being brought in to de-rowdy crowds. “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. But, man, I’m just glad people are making memories with their friends and families.”
As with anything anecdotal like this, it’s hard to gauge how many theaters are actually being afflicted by these incidents—although at least a few chains in the U.K. have gone so far as to issue requests for viewers to, basically, not go completely feral while watching the movie. Hess sees it as harmless (and also, the movie’s the biggest thing on the planet right now, which probably isn’t hurting his rosy attitude): “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.”
At least one chain has decided to lean into this stuff, possibly in an attempt to quarantine it (or maybe just shake the perpetrators into submission): Regal Cinemas is holding a one-time “Chicken Jockey” showing of the film in its 4DX theaters, i.e., the ones with all the wild effects that try to simulate the experience of a theme park movie theater ride. Also, they’re doing it on 4/20, which raises a lot of questions about who the actual marketing for the event is aimed at: Weed-friendly teens who want to rebel, but only in a clearly demarcated and corporate-controlled space, and while being jostled around every time a Creeper explodes? God, that’s going to make the live chickens so anxious.
