Keep your popcorn to yourself.
That was Jack Black‘s instruction to moviegoers attending a screening of A Minecraft Movie over the April 11-13 weekend at AMC Century City in L.A. following days of headlines about young moviegoers engaging in rowdy behavior and hurling handfuls of popcorn into the crowd when Black’s character exclaims, “chicken jockey!”
As Black entered the auditorium unannounced, he initially disguised his voice when he intoning: “For today’s presentation of A Minecraft Movie, please no throwing popcorn.” When he began speaking in his own voice and was recognized, the crowd went nuts as he waved his main prop from the movie, an ax. “Look what I brought,” he said, eliciting hoots and hollers.
Throughout the movie’s opening weekend a week earlier, viral videos captured audiences going wild, throwing food and drinks, and trashing auditoriums. In one video, somebody was even kicked out for holding up a live chicken. Some theaters are issuing warnings, with Cinema United — a trade organization representing thousands of exhibitors across the globe — issuing a memo of voluntary guidelines, including “pre-show announcements” and that if the “situation escalates, local authorities can be called” (reportedly — and in at least one moviegoer’s video — police have been called).
After all, A Minecraft Movie is delivering a huge win for the box office, having cleared $552 million in global ticket sales in less than two weeks to already become one of the biggest video game adaptations of all time, not adjusted for inflation. It earned $78.5 million in its second weekend domestically for a cume of $278.9 million and $273.8 million overseas for a global total of $552.6 million.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time for Warner Bros. motion picture chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who had previously come under fire after a series of misses. Minecraft, produced and co-financed by Legendary Pictures, is the top release of the year to date, and is almost assured of becoming the first film of 2025 to clear $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales (Vertigo is also a credited producer).
While theater workers are unhappy about the mess they are stuck cleaning up, many exhibitors, and especially some of the biggest chains, are refraining from posting wholesale prohibitions on the behavior out of concern that such warnings would only inflame the situation. Insiders say such warnings may not have been helpful when rabid fans of Minions: The Rise of Gru began throwing bananas during screenings of the film or, more recently, when chains including AMC asked Wicked moviegoers to refrain from singing along with the film (later on in the movie’s run, Universal hosted sing-along screenings).
For the uninitiated, A Minecraft Movie follows four misfits who are pulled through a portal into a cubic world and must embark on a quest back to the real world with the help of an expert crafter named Steve (Black). At one point, a baby zombie falls onto the back of a chicken, making a “chicken jockey” — an extremely rare occurrence in the game — which prompts fans to erupt with excitement and surprise.
Black was surely dispatched to AMC Century City to do some damage control and hopefully spark his own viral moment that could counteract the urge to hurl popcorn.
“Are you ready to rock? Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy A Minecraft Movie,” said Black as he walked the aisles of the packed auditorium at AMC Century City.
