Theater takes action as ‘Minecraft Movie’ screenings erupt into chaos
West Bend Cinema posted these signs discouraging disruptions after outbursts during "A Minecraft Movie" became persistent.
By Mary Jo Ola
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WEST BEND, Wisconsin (WTMJ) — Movie-goers are causing mayhem at local theaters during screenings of “A Minecraft Movie.”
Videos online show people throwing their food, running around the auditoriums, and using air horns.
One theater in Door County has stopped selling concessions to people under the age of 18 in hopes of preventing this behavior.
“When Jack Black says, ‘Chicken jockey,’ everyone erupts into chaos,” West Bend Cinema general manager Vicki Plzak told TMJ4 News.
Plzak said staff has had to clean up banana peels, butter on seats, drinks and silly string. The outbursts have happened typically during the later shows and nearly every day since the movie came out.
“It’s not an easy thing to clean up,” Plzak stated. “It makes our job a hundred times worse a hundred times harder because now we have to clean up everything and we only have a certain amount of time between screenings.”
Plzak said that they have handled disturbances before but this trend is starting to impact others.
“It’s ruining it for other people who just wanna come and see the movie,” Plzak added.
Staff had to pause a showing last weekend and escort a crowd of teens out. For the trouble, the theater offered free movie passes to other guests. In one instance, a parent who picked up a group of teens made them clean up the mess they left behind.
Plzak recently posted signs discouraging the behavior and alerting customers that failure to comply will result in removal without a refund.
“I put them up specifically, because of those ‘Minecraft’ movies. People understand that we’re serious about acting respectable in the theater,” Plzak said.
Some theaters are embracing the trend.
A spokesperson for ACX Cinemas, which has a location at Bayshore Mall, told TMJ4 that they have not had any issues, noting that as long as people are safe the Minecraft trend adds fun to the experience and equates it to the original fandom surrounding “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
The movie has been a hit in West Bend, but Plzak said she hopes the wild behavior calms down.
“It’s disruptive. It’s destructive,” Plzak stated. “We are doing our best to try and control. We don’t want people to be deterred from coming to see the movie, but we are doing whatever we possibly can to control the situation so it doesn’t get out of hand.”
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