Several UK cinemas experienced customer disruption at some screenings of the box-office hit A Minecraft Movie.
Renfrew Street Cineworld in Glasgow, Reel Cinema in Fareham and Ritz Multiplex in Northern Ireland are among the venues that have issued warnings of ejection after the film’s opening weekend saw some audience members making excessive noise and being rude towards staff during certain screenings.
The behaviour stems from a TikTok trend known as “Chicken Jockey”. When Jack Black’s character in A Minecraft Movie shouts out the phrase, audience members – mostly teenage boys – film themselves jumping out of their seats, cheering and throwing food and drink at the screen.
Ritz Multiplex posted a video on its Instagram showing the mess left after one of its screenings and claimed, in the caption, that staff received verbal abuse and threats from customers.
“In utterly shocking behaviour, certain individuals are shouting, clapping, swearing, kicking chairs, and throwing popcorn and drinks everywhere,” the caption read.
“Such disruption is taking place during almost every showing and is ruining the movie experience for genuine cinema customers and destroying our screens.”
Renfrew Street Cineworld has since deleted its Instagram post regarding the disruptive behaviour while the cinema chain has announced special “Chicken Jockey” screenings at its 4DX venues.
Phil Clapp, chief executive of the UK Cinema Association, confirmed that several cinemas experienced “unacceptable levels of disturbance and disruption” over the weekend where A Minecraft Movie scored a record-breaking £15m debut.
“At a time when some wrongly claim that young people are foregoing the cinema experience, it’s great to see such a high level of engagement, and our message to those coming along to these screenings would be one of welcome and to please enjoy themselves,” Clapp told Screen.
“We would also ask those coming along to be mindful of the enjoyment of other cinemagoers and not to create extra work for cinema staff by, for example, throwing popcorn around, and of course not to use their phones to record any part of the film.”
A similar trend occurred in 2022 with the release of Minions: The Rise Of Gru which saw teenage boys attend screenings dressed in black suits. Some cinemas banned the trend, aptly titled ‘Gentleminions’, while Vue cinemas hosted special screenings actively encouraging the attire.
No comments yet