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Chicken jockey! Flint and steel! The Nether! There's a high chance that these phrases mean nothing to most adults. But if you went to see "A Minecraft Movie" during its opening weekend, you've probably heard those words shouted at high volume. “A Minecraft Movie,” starring Jack Black as “Steve,” killed it at the box office, with a $163 million opening weekend.
The memes it has spawned — as well as the wild crowd reaction in movie theaters — has made it a cultural phenomenon. In some cases, movie theaters have to handle the uproar over, of all things, “chicken jockey.” Buzz around the movie, based on the , grew through trailers that were amplified on social media.
Of all the phrases, none is more prominent than "chicken jockey." Once a harmless internet joke, it's now an infamous battle cry ringing out in theaters nationwide. During a scene in the movie when Jason Momoa's character in "A Minecraft Movie" has to fight against the "chicken jockey," or a baby zombie from "Minecraft" saddling a chicken, fans have been yelling the phrase in theaters in sync with Black's character.
Here's what to know about "chicken jockey" and the other phrases from "A Minecraft Movie" taking over the internet pixel by pixel. "Chicken jockey" refers to a baby zombie riding a chicken. Jack Black's character "Steve" exclaims the phrase in "A Minecraft Movie," a reference to one of the in-game enemies that players may confront when exploring the blocky landscape in a "Minecraft" world.
In the game, the chicken jockey is a rare occurrence of a type of baby zombie spawning in a “Minecraft” world where the baby zombie rides astride a chicken, and becomes a speedy and dangerous foe. In the movie and trailer, Momoa's character, Garrett, is forced to fight against an unassuming foe: a chicken. A crate hangs above the chicken and drops a baby zombie onto the chicken's back.
Hence, as Steve explaims, "Chicken jockey!" (This is not to be confused with "Steve's Lava Chicken," which is an entirely separate scene, and meme.) After the release of the "A Minecraft Movie" trailer, the internet swiftly reacted to Jack Black exclaiming "chicken jockey," along with other phrases featured in the film. For some, Black's enthusiasm was infectious.
"I'm convinced they just gave jack black a blue shirt and told him to be himself," one fan said in the comments of a TikTok from March 20, two weeks before the release of the film. Other fans of the game were just excited to see familar in-game icons get the silver screen treatment. "The movie is just 2 hours of Jack Black naming most Minecraft items and blocks," said another fan in the comments of the same video.
As soon as "A Minecraft Movie" opened, theaters began to get rowdy. Viral videos circulated showing fans screaming lines from the film, especially "chicken jockey." One mom posted a video of her theater experience in a Facebook .
"I’m wondering if anyone else who saw the Minecraft Movie this weekend had the same experience...
An almost sold out theater full of tween and teenage kids, mostly boys — literally screaming, cheering and clapping along," Amberly Hash wrote in her caption. "Any major characters or statements, they all went berserk! It was awesomely hilarious," she . Some audiences took it too far.
One theater in New Jersey is unsupervised due to "completely unacceptable behavior, including vandalism," from a group of unsupervised boys, the theater manager wrote in a Facebook . "If your son was at Township Theatre last night, we strongly encourage you to have a conversation with him about his behavior," the post continued. In some cases, police have been called to the theater to escort out disruptors of the film, as documented in a .
When Black's character Steve introduces himself in the movie, he says, with a dramatic pause, "I ...
am Steve!" The line delivery has spawned various internet . Other popular lines include "flint and steel," referencing tools Steve uses, and "the Nether," an in-game underworld and another popular line delivery from Black. Other phrases that have sparked theatrical reactions include when Steve introduces " ," in-game non-player characters that love eating bread or, according to Steve, " " — another meme'd line from the movie.
Dan Aulbach is an editorial intern for TODAY.com based in New York City. He specializes in sports journalism.
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