A moment of solidarity for the cinema workers of Ireland, please...
Not only are they stuck indoors during the hottest week of the year so far, but they also have to contend with a viral trend that will likely leave them finding popcorn between every seat cushion for the next five years. Not bad for a film that had a trailer so maligned it was initially anticipated to be 2025's cinematic disasterpiece.
The Minecraft Movie had the biggest US opening of 2025, with an estimated total of over $300 million worldwide. It's the biggest opening for a video game adaptation of all time, smashing records set by The Super Mario Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog—two of gaming’s most iconic franchises.
The reviews have been mixed, but what’s been happening inside cinemas is what’s truly captured the most attention.
If you search for The Minecraft Movie on TikTok, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were watching a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening gone horribly wrong. Young people throwing popcorn everywhere, police arriving to arrest cinema-goers, and even a live chicken being brought in to watch his cartoon counterpart fight Jason Momoa. Clips of employees pleading with ticket holders not to shout "chicken jockey" during the film, only to have their requests immediately ignored, are a common thread. Where did all this chaos come from?
For anyone familiar with the video game world, Minecraft was always bound to be a huge hit on the big screen. This past January marked the fourteenth anniversary of when I first bought Minecraft, making me one of the first million players out of the 300 million sold so far. Despite their reputations as critical duds, video game adaptations have been big business at the box office for the past decade.
you'd be forgiven for thinking you were watching a
Rocky Horror Picture Show screening gone horribly wrong.'
The Minecraft Movie seemed set to follow that trend, especially after the release of its initial teaser in September of last year. The teaser featured uncanny valley versions of in-game characters, strange lighting choices that gave every actor an unintentional halo, and Jack Black shouting exposition mere weeks after controversially stepping away from his band Tenacious D.
However, all press is good press, and the sheer oddity of the trailer helped it go viral in the lead-up to the film’s release this past week. Every new clip revealed even more bizarre characters and dynamics, which had teenagers clamoring to see the full picture.
Fan behavior at the cinema is nothing new. Midnight releases for Marvel films still draw large crowds, and indie music fans continue to dance in the aisles during Stop Making Sense. The Minecraft Movie seems to have fallen into the same category as the "GentleMinions" meme of 2022, where young people dressed in full formal attire to watch Minions: Rise of Gru. For some, participating in the meme is nearly more important than the movie itself, all in the hopes of gaining virality on their own social media pages.
I’ve seen The Minecraft Movie, and thankfully, my screening was fairly quiet, thanks to the good weather we’ve been having. It’s definitely worth a watch - though maybe bring a hat to avoid picking popcorn out of your hair on the way home.
The Minecraft Movie is in cinemas now.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
