One fan took the viral “chicken jockey” moment too far and brought a real chicken to a screening of A Minecraft Movie.
Clips of a recent showing of the video game-based film spread online where a moviegoer brought along an actual chicken and held it up during the now-infamous “chicken jockey” scene.
As seen in the videos circulating on TikTok, all hell broke loose with popcorn and containers flying across the auditorium and a man holding the chicken up in the air.
Moments later, the house lights came on and security seemingly intervened. According to other POVs from that particular showing, all moviegoers were kicked out with the screening presumably cancelled.
The viral moment from the film features Jason Momoa's character Garrett fighting what appears to be a chicken, only for a zombie to fall on top of it—creating a "chicken jockey," a reference to the original Minecraft game. Jack Black's character, Steve, then yells "Chicken jockey" which has fans screaming the line in unison at screenings.
The "chicken jockey" line was one of the scenes teased in the film's promotional trailers and its since taken on a life of its own.
An incident during the film's opening weekend prompted security to kick out a group of rowdy teens from a showing, but it seems that's becoming a regular occurence.
The film’s director, Jared Hess, recently told Entertainment Weekly he’s been losing sleep watching all of the wild audience reactions for the film.
“It's been so bananas,” he told EW two days after Minecraft took over the box office with a $163 million opening weekend. “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.”
“It's weird when you're having too much fun and the cops get called,” he added. “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’ interview was published before the “real chicken” incident went viral. It’s probably safe to say he would not condone endangering chickens (or any animals) by bringing them to the movies.