Minecraft movie mania comes to N.S. theatre

The new Minecraft movie has fans flocking to theatres, and clean-up crews working overtime.

A viral social media trend involving disruptive behaviour during screenings of the new “Minecraft” movie is sweeping North America, and the Maritimes are no exception.

The trend involves moviegoers yelling and throwing popcorn during a scene featuring the “chicken jockey” character. While causing concern in many venues, the Amherst Theatre in Nova Scotia has seen a smaller-scale version, according to owner Mikhial Mansour.

“We’ve had a lot of clapping, a lot of cheering, some popcorn being thrown. People have been pretty respectable so far,” Mansour said. “First of all, I love to see the theatre full. Second of all, I think about cleaning, like, oh my gosh, what a lot of work that’s going to take, I hope it doesn’t damage something like the screen or anything like that.

“I think it becomes more interactive. It creates a reason to go to the show. People are kind of interested and excited. It becomes a bigger experience.”

Despite the extra cleaning, theatre manager Jamin Melanson reports overwhelmingly positive feedback.

“I haven’t heard really too many complaints,” he says. “A lot of people were just like, ‘It was actually a fun experience.’ Our opening night, I was turning people away at the door, and then people came out afterwards. They’re like, ‘Oh, that was so much fun.’ We even have one customer who’s a regular, he’s like, ‘Yeah, people are quoting things and just cheering and clapping,’ and I thought he might be upset about it, but no, he was excited. He’s an elderly gentleman and he was just happy; he liked to see people interacting with the movie. That was kind of cool.”

A few weeks ago, the Amherst Theatre hosted the premiere of “L2: Empuraan,” a highly anticipated Indian film that attracted fans from Fredericton, Saint John, Charlottetown and Sydney.

“We partnered with a group of people that bring in South Indian movies,” Melanson explains. “And we sold that out, and it was like every seat in the theatre was filled that one night and someone let off a confetti cannon. That was a little tough to clean up. We’re still pretty much cleaning that up, and it’s been two or three weeks since. But one of the neat things during that movie was they cheer when actors and actresses come on screen.

“One thing I learned from that was, I would go in before the movie and just give a little announcement like, ‘Hey, thank you for coming. You know, we appreciate it. If you could pick up your garbage, you know, on the way out and no confetti poppers, please,’ and just kind of like reiterate that. I’ve started doing that with Minecraft too.”

“A Minecraft Movie,” with over $550 million in global ticket sales, is clearly a hit. However, Canadian film critic Richard Crouse notes the trend’s demographic.

“I think probably the earlier shows, like the matinee shows, the early afternoon shows, maybe the weekend shows—that’s probably where you’re going to find this,” he says. “It’s mostly very young people that are doing it.

“The ‘Minecraft’ movie is set in a place called the overworld, and it all takes place in that world where imagination is king. I think that’s one of the things that people have really responded to about this movie is that it’s fun. It’s an action-adventure movie, and it really just allows your imagination to run free. It doesn’t really worry too much about storylines and all that kind of stuff. It’s more about just having a great time at the movies.”

He believes the trend reflects a generational shift in movie-going expectations.

“They’re used to watching things on their phones or used to watching things at home; they’re used to being frankly a bit more interactive with their entertainment,” Crouse explains. “If it’s on YouTube or online, or in a video game. And so the idea that we sit in a movie theatre like it’s a church and don’t make a sound, may be becoming a thing of the past, and I don’t like to see it go that way, but I do like to see full theatres full of people enjoying the same thing at the same time, watching a movie.”

Mansour and Melanson see the trend as a testament to the communal movie-going experience.

“It stems from TikTok and Snapchat. You could put in rules saying, ‘No, don’t do this,’ but sometimes it’s just a little bit easier to follow the trend and let society take its course.” Melanson says. “Movies are meant to be experienced as a community. They’re meant to be experienced in that kind of communal aspect. And, and this really makes it makes us remember that movie theatres can be fun.”

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