Younger audiences attending Minecraft Movie have been kicked out of the theater for their reaction to one specific scene involving a “chicken jockey.”
On Sunday, the Township Theatre in New Jersey issued a statement on Facebook announcing that minors attending screenings of A Minecraft Movie must be “accompanied by a parent or responsible adult,” following “an unfortunate situation” that took place during a Saturday showing.
In the movie, which hit theaters on Friday, Jack Black’s character sees a baby zombie fall onto the back of a chicken, causing theater-goers to erupt into chaos by screaming or throwing popcorn.
For those wondering, a chicken jockey — a baby zombie riding a chicken — is an extremely rare phenomenon in the game.
To see one, players need to wait for zombies to appear, which can only happen at night. Then they have to hope the zombie is a baby, another rare occurrence, and that a chicken is close enough that they spawn on top of it.
The Minecraft Wikipedia page breaks down the probability of a chicken jockey’s appearance using percentages. “Each baby zombie, baby husk, baby zombie villager, baby zombified piglin, or baby drowned that spawns has a 5% chance to check for an existing chicken within a 10×6×10 box centered on the baby's spawn location and spawn riding one of those chickens if there are any,” the page reads.
“If it fails that 5% chance, there is an additional 5% chance of the baby zombie spawning mounted on a new chicken. In a chicken-free environment, each spawned zombie has a 0.25% chance of becoming a chicken jockey; if chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%.”
Chicken jockeys can sometimes be equipped with weapons such as a golden sword or a trident.
Despite a lukewarm reception from critics, the movie has been a smash box office success, collecting a blockbuster $163 million in its opening weekend domestically, as well as an additional $150 million from outside the U.S.
On social media, numerous fans shared that they had witnessed, or participated in, outbursts over the chicken jockey scene in theaters.
“My theatre clapped every time Jack Black name dropped a Minecraft item that was in the trailers, and when he said Chicken Jockey I s*** you not the entire row in front of me gave a standing ovation,” one person shared.
“Just got back from watching the movie myself, can confirm everyone in the theatre collectively yelled ‘CHICKEN JOCKEY’ during that moment and it was glorious ngl,” wrote another.
In contrast, some cinema employees on TikTok have been urging viewers not to cause chaos in the screenings and to refrain from making a mess.
“I’m a theatre employee: by throwing water, popcorn and all that onto people (which many have been doing) yall are making our jobs harder,” said one person.
“Theatre employee here. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE just don’t be obnoxious I worked both opening days and it has been a living nightmare. Nothing wrong with cheering during big moments but don’t be swearing,” said another.
