Minecraft Movie Madness Is Forcing Theaters To Announce Stricter Policies
Everyone's talking about A Minecraft Movie and how the film based on the popular video game surprised industry analysts as well as theaters with its record-setting debut last weekend. Since opening a week ago, the film has brought in nearly $200 million domestically.
One of the things that has helped the film, which set the record for the biggest opening weekend box office for a video game movie, has been the wild videos that have gone viral of kids and teenagers going absolutely off the walls in movie theaters.
THEATERS ARE CRACKING DOWN ON ROWDY BEHAVIOR
One scene in which the popular "Chicken Jockey" character appears, had teens from across the country with their cell phones out and ready to capture the chaos of people throwing popcorn, drinks, screaming, or jumping on top of each other and more. With police being called in some instances to try and regain some sort of order, a number of movie theaters have announced changes to this weekend's movie showings.
A Washington Township, New Jersey movie theater, for example, is banning all teenagers who are not accompanied by a parent.
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Meanwhile, various Cineworld theaters have now posted signs that warn that anyone that gets too rowdy or obnoxious will be removed from the theater.
"Any form of anti-social behavior, especially anything that may disturb other guests such as loud screaming, clapping and shouting will not be tolerated. Anyone who is found to be acting in this manner will be removed from the screening and not entitled to a refund," the theater chain announced.
What's ironic is that it's precisely these viral moments that helped the film become so popular in the first place!
MINECRAFT DIRECTOR IS FINE WITH THE POPCORN THROWING
Perhaps that's why Director Jared Hess told Entertainment Weekly earlier this week that he actually supports the Minecraft madness that is currently going on, adding that it's better than for kids to be at home swiping away at their phones!
"It’s been way too fun. It’s weird when you’re having too much fun and the cops get called. 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," Hess told the outlet.
Clearly, he understands the importance of the movie to continue to be talked about and gaining traction in what has been an otherwise dismal box office year across the board.
We shall see just how strict movie theaters are this weekend and if the number of viral videos goes down or if more teenagers are just encouraged to take things even further!