Cinemas have struck box office gold – by letting the youth run riot

Telegraph

08-04-2025

Anybody hoping to quietly take in a film at the cinema is best advised to avoid screenings of A Minecraft Movie.
Despite being almost universally panned by critics, the adaptation of the hit video game has proven a hit with Gen Z and become the subject of disruptive behaviour sparked by TikTok. Young cinemagoers have started leaping up, cheering and throwing popcorn across theatres whenever lines from the trailer are spoken – all filmed and designed to go viral on the Chinese-owned social media app.
The disruption has been so bad, in places, that cinemas have started warning punters about their behaviour (especially the detritus they leave behind) and threatening to call the police in the worst cases. 'This disruptive behaviour is happening at almost every showing and it is totally ruining the movie experience of genuine cinema customers,' says a spokesman for The Ritz Multiplex in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. 'And destroying our cinema.'
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A Minecraft Movie, which stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa, took $313 million (£245 million) worldwide in its opening weekend – the highest return since Barbie was released in 2023. It has surprised many that the critical flop has become a box office phenomenon (though perhaps it ought not be that surprising, given that Minecraft is the best-selling video game in history, with more than 300 million sales and 140 million monthly players).
'Cinema is slightly blindsided by it,' says Phil Clapp, chief executive of the UK Cinema Association. 'No one had the first weekend of Minecraft down to make £15 million [in Britain], which is, I think, the third-biggest opening since the pandemic.'
Scenting an opportunity amid the chaotic scenes at many screenings, some cinemas are looking to turn the viral social media sensation into cold, hard cash. Cineworld has organised a series of special screenings in which the disruptive behaviour is not just allowed, but actively encouraged. The so-called 'Chicken Jockey screenings', named after a line from the film that sparks delirium, will take place in the chain's 4DX theatres, where seats shake and viewers can get wet and windy.
Casey Cohen, the chain's marketing chief, says that the Sunday screenings have been launched in response to 'fans who've been demanding a more interactive experience – where the action on screen and the energy in the room collide'.
@the_minecraft_movie absolute limbs 😭😭🍗🍗⛏️⛏️ #kickedout #cinemaworker #minecraftmovie #cinema #fyp #reaction #crowd #popcorn ♬ original sound - Meme Soundboard - DJ Lunatique - Meme Sound Effects
The way Cineworld describes it, audience participation is at the heart of the film. 'Minecrafters will feel every buck, sway and water blast in unison, while whooping and cheering together from the comfort of their moving seats,' Cohen adds. 'It is, hands-down, the most fun you'll ever have in a cinema.'
It is not the first time that cinema chains have looked to turn a disruptive TikTok trend to their advantage. The release of Minions: The Rise of Gru in 2022 was similarly targeted by young social media users, who dressed in suits and became rowdy to such an extent that many venues banned punters in formalwear from attending. Vue Cinemas later put on 'Gentleminion' screenings of the film, and warned any unsuspecting punters that 'these sessions may include crowd participation and general, obvious levels of enjoyment'. Last year, cinemas across the country hosted less messy but still disruptive sing-along screenings of Wicked in response to audiences insisting on belting out songs like Defying Gravity.
If the cinema is no longer a sacred space, where even persistent whisperers are shushed by those who want no distractions, and interactivity is encouraged it may not be long before another taboo is broken: allowing viewers to text or browse social media during screenings.
Multiplex bosses will be aware that they are much more financially dependent on the young than the traditional movie-going purists. Of the five highest-grossing films at the UK box office last year, four (Wicked, Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4 and Moana 2) were pitched directly at children and Gen Z. This is a cohort raised on the idea of 'second-screening' (i.e. scrolling through their phones) when watching TV or films at home and unhappy when they are barred from doing what they want.
Phones are increasingly being used in cinemas already, with 11 per cent of moviegoers guilty of checking their phones during a film, according to a 2023 YouGov survey. However, for anybody fretting about the sanctity of cinemas, so-called phone-friendly screenings do not appear to be on the agenda – yet.
Even if punters wanted it, studios that are worried about pirates filming the big screen making it available for free would surely kibosh the suggestion. 'On the mobile phone thing there's still a general reluctance to do that, not least because of the piracy aspect,' says Clapp. In its otherwise down-with-the-kids, upbeat marketing bumpf for its special Minecraft screenings, Cineworld does warn audiences: 'You cannot film anything that's on the screen – that's piracy… [and] we will come after you for it.'
The suggestion that cinemas ought to introduce screenings allowing phone use is not a new one. Shortly after he took over as chief executive of American chain AMC in 2016, Adam Aron said that a 22-year-old being told to turn off their phone at the cinema was like saying 'Please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can't tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That's not how they live their life'. His suggestion that AMC would overhaul 'specific auditoriums and make them more texting friendly' met a fierce backlash and Aron was forced to swiftly backtrack.
For cinema operators, who have struggled to bounce back from the shock of the pandemic and the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes, there is increasing desperation to try and lure back viewers who have become used to watching films in the comfort of their own homes. Last month industry bible Variety suggested (at least semi-seriously) that American cinemas allow audiences to smoke marijuana in theatres, while the eight biggest multiplex chains in the US are investing more than $2 billion to overhaul their offering and make them a one-stop shop for activities and entertainment. As well as the relatively straightforward task of upgrading audio-visual technology, some have installed ziplines and pickleball courts in an effort to tempt people from their sofas.
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But allowing people to use their phones would be a step too far. 'It would be breaking the last vestige of cinema being a place where people can turn their phones off,' says Clapp. 'The biggest complaint from cinemagoers is other cinemagoers' behaviour, particularly the use of mobile phones: not just to text but occasionally to hold live conversations in the middle of a film. We don't want to send mixed messages around that and say sometimes it's OK and sometimes it's not OK. Phone use is still seen as verboten'
But surely if cinemas are disproportionately reliant on Gen Z to keep the box office ticking over, and that generation regards being separated from its devices as unbearable, a crunch will come? 'There is an attempt on our part to sell that as a virtue: this is the one place where you can disconnect,' Clapp adds. 'There'll be a subset of that generation and other generations who view that as horror, one of the worst things they can do. But it's one of the unique selling points of cinema: it's a place of immersion, a place where you can cut yourself off from everything outside.'
Unless, that is, you happen to watch A Minecraft Movie with a bunch of young people.