“Chicken Jockey” has become a public trigger for kids thanks to A Minecraft Movie, with the reactions sparking the target audience of the literal blockbuster to go absolutely insane when the scene arrives. And while some of the kids are just having fun and giving a little audience participation, others are raising hell and even being escorted out by police, forcing some theaters to enact a “no unaccompanied minors” policy. Director Jared Hess found the rowdy theater reactions to be amusing. He said, “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.” Jack Black would get in on the fun as somewhat of an ironic instigator as Variety reports that the Minecraft Movie star personally showed up to a theater, dresses as a theater owner, and warned the audience against acting chaotic.
A viral video shows Black surprising an audience at a screening and telling them, “No throwing popcorn! And absolutely no chicken jockeys!” When Black was revealed to the crowd, they erupted into applause and the comedic actor continued, “Oh yeah! I am Steve. Are you ready to rock? Ladies and gentleman please enjoy, A Minecraft Movie. Roll the projector!”
Now that A Minecraft Movie is a bonafide viral hit thanks to the Chicken Jockey and a number of other fan-favorite scenes, no doubt it will continue its impressive box office haul. So far, it has already taken in around $200 million domestically and will likely end up as one of the highest-grossing movies of the year based on its performance so far. As expected, A Minecraft Movie dominated the box office this weekend. It only fell a modest 51% in week two for $80.6 million over the three-day weekend, which is about what we predicted earlier this week. It’s a terrific showing for a movie no one seemed sure there was an audience for, but it has seemingly grabbed the cultural zeitgeist in a way that’s hard to reverse engineer. It’s undoubtedly a huge win for Warner Bros, with them also opening the buzzy Ryan Coogler vampire epic, Sinners, this coming weekend. If they get two hits in a row, suddenly their iffy box office track record for 2025 will start to look much better.
Here’s video Jack Black’s appearance at the A Minecraft Movie screening:
