Minecraft director responds to ‘Chicken Jockey' trend as cinemas erupt into chaos during movie screenings
The director of the new Minecraft flick has spoken out on the 'Chicken Jockey' trend that has seen cinemas descend into chaos across the globe and police issue warnings.
A Minecraft Movie hit theatres on Friday (April 4) and as well as breaking box office records, it's apparently also provoking enthusiastic fans to break cinema etiquette to the point some young viewers have been booted out.
The Warner Bros movie boasts a star-studded cast, including Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge.
And it's an appearance of Black's character, Steve, who delivers the now-famous line, 'chicken jockey', that is causing all the ruckus.
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If you're not a Minecraft player, a chicken jockey is a rare phenomenon in the video game, which involves a baby zombie riding a chicken.
A rare chain of events is needed to re-create the scene in the game - the first is stumbling across a horde of zombies, who only come out at night, and the golden 'baby zombie' being among them.
And that's not all - gamers have to hope they're lucky enough for the baby zombie to spawn close enough to a chicken to sit on top of it.
According to the Minecraft Wikipedia page, the probability of a chicken jockey is 0.25 percent in a 'chicken-free environment' which only increases to 0.4875 percent if there are chickens within the very small range.
Anyway, such is the hype of the unusual chicken jockey that seeing one in the movie is prompting audiences to go wild with fans reportedly jumping up and down, throwing popcorn and screaming Black's line 'chicken jockey!' as it appears.
Now, Jared Hess, the director of the movie, has said he's losing sleep over the unexpected movement it has sparked - because he's hooked on watching audience reaction videos that have gone viral on social media.
"It's been so bananas," he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "It's been way too fun. People are sending me these really hilarious speeches that a lot of teenagers are giving right before the movie. It's so hysterical, man. I'm staying up way too late."
The hysteria has seen police officers descend on movie theatres while certain locations are prohibiting unaccompanied minors and large groups from entering.
The Township Theatre in New Jersey was forced to issue a statement following an 'unfortunate situation' where 'large groups of unsupervised boys engaged in completely unacceptable behavior, including vandalism.'
"It's weird when you're having too much fun and the cops get called," Hess continued. "It's funny because I think it's just literally cheering and throwing popcorn, which is so funny to me that cops are getting called for popcorn. Yeah, it's hilarious.
"I've seen so many funny videos. It's great, especially when people are climbing on their friends' shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments. It's like this crazy anticipation. But, man, I'm just glad people are making memories with their friends and families."
Hess also said he had 'no clue' the moment, which sees Black's Steve and Momoa's Garrett enter a boxing ring before being faced with the chicken jockey, would become so iconic.
"It's just a bonanza," he added. "I'm just so happy that people are finding joy in going back to cinemas and seeing things as a community, as a group of people."
"It's like we've become so isolated on our devices, and it's just fun to experience things as a group of human beings. I think people are starved for that experience. So it's fun that they've found it in this goofy movie that we've made."
Topics: Warner Bros, Film and TV, Gaming, Jack Black, Jason Momoa, US News, Viral
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