EDIT: The craze detailed below has escalated, and cinemas worldwide are now issuing warnings against ‘anti-social behavior’ before screenings of A Minecraft Movie (per Variety)
A Minecraft Movie had a massive opening weekend, with the film projected to earn over $140 million USD domestically – but some movie-goers are less than enthused about the experience of this particular film in cinemas.
Shortly after its first few screenings worldwide, reports of wild and rowdy behaviour during A Minecraft Movie began popping up all over the internet. Think kids throwing popcorn and soft drinks, filming the entire movie on their phones, and yelling and clapping loudly at the screen – all while standing up. Adult viewers in the US, UK, and Australia took to social media to post about similar patterns of behaviour in their screenings.
One screening of the movie had to be cut short as police were called after a particular scene featuring a ‘chicken jockey‘ caused the children in the cinema to scream and throw popcorn (as reported in Dexerto). The video of the particular scene and reported aftermath can be seen below, thanks to TikTok user @salesmenpod.
The scene, which references a popular meme, has had similar ‘outbursts’ when witnessed by audiences. In one video posted to X (see below), a teenager appears to throw two buckets of popcorn while yelling ‘water bucket release‘ onto the patron in front of him.
Based on the popular video game series Minecraft, A Minecraft Movie sees four misfit heroes – Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black) and two kids (played by Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Emma Myers) – get drawn into the mysterious, cube-filled Overworld, a land that thrives on imagination. They also meet Steve, played by Jack Black, who is determined to guide them on their own magical quest to get back home.
The movie, much like the game, is primarily aimed at young boys, and, given it’s the school holidays right now, it’s natural that the first screenings would attract a school-aged audience. Target demographic-wise, it looks like the filmmakers (director Jared Hess and the crew from Warner Bros.) have hit the nail on the head: kids and teens are loving A Minecraft Movie. But are they loving it a bit too much?
Why kids lose their blocks over A Minecraft Movie
Minecraft (the game) is usually played at home, in the comfort of your living room or bedroom, often with an online capability that allows you to talk to and play with your friends as you craft epic castles and slay Creepers.
During the Covid lockdowns, video games remained as one of the few spaces kids could socialise with their friends as schools, playgrounds, shopping centres and cinemas all remained closed. Minecraft, along with other popular social games like Fortnite, Roblox, Overwatch and Rocket League, was the place to be. And better yet, it affords a wide freedom of expression – and an outlet for violent outbursts that have no real-world consequences.
First released in 2009, Minecraft has grown exponentially in popularity, thanks to its simple, colourful graphics, easy-to-learn gameplay, low cost, and relatively modest system requirements. With the primary function being to create and explore, pretty much anyone can play the game – no in-depth walkthroughs needed!
Even if kids don’t play the game itself, they’ve certainly heard of it, thanks to Let’s Play-style YouTubers, TikTok-ers and Twitch Streamers that record themselves playing the game and reacting to it. My young nephew is obsessed with Minecraft to the point of having a Minecraft-themed birthday party – and he’s never once touched the game.
The outrage on social media clearly comes from the fact that this target audience are treating the cinema like a house party-slash-sports game – a reaction that is, granted, not dissimilar to the way mega Marvel fans treated the first weekend of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: End Game.
But it surely goes too far when other cinema patrons are having food and drink intentionally spilled on them, and ‘meme-worthy’ lines shouted in their ears as other teens look on, phones out and ready to record the moment for TikTok.
As always, it’s not cool to get your phone out in the cinema. That’s what all those pre-roll PSAs are about! Perhaps they’re in need of an update which includes: no phones (yes, even on silent … yes, even with the brightness down … yes, that includes you Barry Thompson in Year 8) and definitely no dumping buckets of popcorn onto other patrons (no matter how funny it is).
Actually, scratch that, let’s make a 30-second meme-filled video about how to properly attend a movie, lest you be seen as ‘cringe’ and ‘rizzless’ by your peers. Yelling at the screen? That’s Ohio rizz … on god bro, no cap.
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I will admit that speculation in these situations is too easy, so while I could moan and groan at length about ‘kids these days’, it’s worth noting that they are, above all else, having the time of their lives at these screenings.
It’s no Parasite, sure, but it’s undeniably a mega-hit with its target demographic, all of whom are going to be talking about A Minecraft Movie for a long time. A voluntary rubbish pick-up as the credits roll wouldn’t hurt, though!
A Minecraft Movie has earned a whopping $301 million already, so regardless of the low critic ratings and stressed-out parents, I think it’s safe to say Warner Bros. aren’t too worried about it. This phenomenon might even spawn special audience participation screenings, where at the very least the amount of screaming and tossing of food will be anticipated prior to going in.
A Minecraft Movie is in cinemas now.
