SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A metro Atlanta movie cinema has a warning for its patrons: no chicken jockey hijinks.
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It seems a scene in the new Minecraft movie, starring Jack Black, has set off popcorn pandemonium at theaters across the country, thanks to a viral video.
The Springs Cinema and Taphouse had some moviegoers last weekend cause a big mess in one of its auditoriums. When Black yells “chicken jockey!” in the film, troublemakers in the audience yell and throw popcorn and drinks.
“We’ve been dealing with crazy kids getting rowdy,” said Alexi Alvear, the assistant manager at The Springs. “Friday night was the worst I’ve seen.”
He said it took three hours to clean up the mess. Management has even called the police a couple of times to tame the raucous crowds. Now, when that scene appears, employees go into the theater to police every row.
“We literally sent the whole staff into the auditorium,” he said.
RELATED STORY: ‘No throwing popped corn’: Jack Black warns ‘Minecraft’ theatergoers
He described the perpetrators as mostly preteen and teenage boys. Some of the rowdy young patrons were escorted out of the building.
“We even had a couple of parents come back the next day to have their kids apologize, so that’s at least the nice part,” Alvear said.
The cinema has posted warnings on its website and social media: “Please don’t ruin our theater and the movie experience for other guests just for imaginary internet points. Real employees have to clean up this nonsense.”
Rena Antebi and her daughter Amelia visited the theater Tuesday morning to watch Minecraft and had the whole auditorium to themselves.
“I was hoping the whole shenanigans thing doesn’t happen while we’re at the movie,” Amelia said.
She has a message for kids her age and older who would take part in such tomfoolery. “Stop it,” she said. “It is extremely annoying because nobody likes people getting crazy because some people are just trying to go there to watch a movie.”
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