Minecraft movie audiences are going feral over a moment in the film where Jason Momoa fights a baby zombie riding a chicken.
The scene, previously glimpsed in trailers, has become a viral meme – and has sparked wild responses from some cinema goers (mostly, it seems, in the US). Audiences are screaming the words “CHICKEN JOCKEY” as they are spoken by Jack Black’s Steve, then standing up and throwing popcorn.
Numerous examples of crowds (again, mostly US crowds) reacting to the Chicken Jockey scene spread on social media over the weekend, with some attendees apparently waiting for the moment with loaded popcorn buckets, ready to throw them in the air and over other guests upon the moment in question.
Look, I worked in a cinema for several years as a student job, and this sort of thing really boils my piss. Not only are you being a jerk to every other guest in the cinema, you are also creating a ton of extra work for the minimum wage employees who have to come around and sweep all your rubbish off the floor between screenings. Oh, and it’s just a waste of food.
Here are a couple of clips, as dug up by IGN:
Why is this happening? Well, people are jerks. Why is a Chicken Jockey such a big deal? Well, in Minecraft itself, these enemies are pretty rare – so finding one is a big deal.
Film critics gave A Minecraft Movie a critical mauling, but audiences don’t seem to care. The film has already earned a whopping $301m (£233m) worldwide over its opening weekend, meaning the project has already doubled its $150m budget and is the biggest video game film ever to launch in the US.
A sequel – and probably more chicken jockeying – now seems assured.
“Lovely performances elevate a movie that captures Minecraft’s many bits and pieces but not its creative spirit,” Christian Donlan wrote in Eurogamer’s A Minecraft Movie review.
And in other Minecraft movie news, an unfinished version of the film with effects that actually look closer to the original Minecraft game has leaked online.