With “A Minecraft Movie” coming out April 4, there has been some excitement—and some might say even a little too much. When the trailer first came out, there were already a lot of memes floating around. Fans had been saying “chicken jockey,” “flint and steel” and “I am Steve” for weeks leading up to the movie. And it did not stop there.

The first couple of days had Auditorium 2 of Oswego Cinema 7 packed; you would be lucky if you got to the theatre and they still had tickets left. With the movie hitting the big screen, chaos erupted. Moviegoers have been screaming the already iconic lines, clapping at every chance they got and even throwing popcorn and other things around the theater. This little hiccup is not just happening in Oswego; it is happening across the whole world.

According to Gamesradar, director Jared Hess is not even a bit concerned about the uproar happening in theaters, as he is just happy that memories are being made. He also went on to say that he enjoys getting sent videos of the chaotic events, as they make him laugh every time.

While it is important to make memories, especially since movie theatres still have not gotten back their popularity from before COVID-19, people do not need to be trashing the theatres. Obviously, there is not anything that Hess can do, but he is almost encouraging disruptive actions, which is not fair to the theater employees or the other moviegoers who simply want to watch the movie.

One of the more extreme instances that circulated on TikTok was when a teenager brought a live chicken to a theatre for the chicken jockey scene. This obviously got him arrested, but it also caused the movie to be turned off immediately, more than likely not making for a great memory like Hess hoped for.

Due to all the chaos, some movie theaters have enforced stricter policies. For instance, a theater in New Jersey is not allowing teenagers into the movie unless accompanied by a parent and Cineworld theatres will remove anyone who is being rowdy and will not allow a refund to be issued (Gunzelman). 

Supposedly, this was all a result of a TikTok trend. Why this is such a big phenomenon and why it is even happening is still unknown, but hopefully will be resolved soon. 

Image from YouTube via Entertainment Access