08-04-2025
Wasilla police eject 'rowdy' teens from Minecraft movie showing
Apr. 8—A group of young people at a Wasilla showing of "A Minecraft Movie" last week created such a disruption that police arrived and escorted them out.
Screenings of the movie, which premiered Friday, are leading to national reports of disruptive behavior attributed to a social media trend that's prompted other police responses.
A brief TikTok video showing Wasilla Police Department officers at The Valley Cinema screening last Friday had 4.4 million views as of Tuesday morning.
The video shows two officers standing in front of the movie as the theater lights come up. One officer can be heard saying, "The guys in the back that body-slammed an employee ... all of you guys are not welcome here any more."
The video also shows blurry images of a crowd milling around outside a theater as well as teens complaining as they walk out.
A Wasilla police spokesperson this week said the incident occurred around 9 p.m. Friday. Five officers responded to a call from the theater manager, according to police spokesperson Amanda Graham.
The manager said a large group of teenagers was being rowdy, Graham said Tuesday. "And then they requested that we escort them out."
She said officers in a report described about 15 young people involved, "I think it was the two back rows."
Asked for any specifics regarding an employee getting body-slammed, Graham said no charges were filed and all of the theater employees said they were "satisfied that everything was taken care of."
A theater manager, as well as the owner of the chain that owns the theater, couldn't immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
The movie — based on Minecraft, the best-selling video game in history — stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa. One scene in particular, involving Black and Momoa in a boxing ring with a Minecraft chicken ridden by another character, is generating wild audience reactions. The "chicken jockey" scenes shared on social media show largely young audiences erupting in screams, ovations and popcorn-tossing.
Reports of trouble at movie screenings have surfaced around the country and in Canada. According to the Independent, at least one UK cinema issued a warning that, "Disruptive behaviour, including taking part in TikTok trends, before, during, or after a screening will not be tolerated."
An Anchorage Police Department spokesman said he hadn't heard any reports of calls to theaters in the municipality for disruptive behavior at "A Minecraft Movie" showings this week.
At Wasilla, the theater manager's call prompted a large response.
All officers on duty at the time came to the theater, Graham said. That decision was prompted by the number of teens involved, as well as a fatal stabbing that occurred at the same theater nearly a year ago.
Police at the time said a teenager was killed during a fight at the theater involving multiple teens in April 2024.
"With a group that size you want to make sure," Graham said of the five-officer response last Friday night. "With the stabbing there last year ... it definitely brings it back up. That was rough. It was also a large group of teens."
Another teen was arrested in relation to what police called a homicide in the days following the stabbing. That case was prosecuted within the juvenile justice system because the suspect was under 16.
Graham on Tuesday said issues involving teens in the community seem to occur whenever groups of young people gather in the same place, rather than at any one place in particular like the theater.
She urged parents to talk with teens about their behavior and "making good choices and being the one in the group that encourages others to make good choices as well."
