What is Chicken Jockey? The now-famous phrase from A Minecraft Movie explained

A Minecraft Movie is pulling large crowds to the theaters. That should be a cause for celebration, right? At least some theater owners beg to differ. The reason is the chaos that ensues after a scene that involves "Chicken Jockey". For those who are not caught up on this trend, this is an easter egg from the video game on which the film is based. It is simply a monster baby zombie sitting on the back of a chicken and riding it as if it's a horse. However, that's enough of a reason for the teenage audience to go gag over it.

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Reports say that the teens start throwing popcorn buckets and whatnot toward the screen when this Chicken Jockey shows up in the movie. It has led to a viral social media trend where people are obsessed with this creature. The craze is so big that they are also buying its merchandise.

Before diving into that, let's go through the scene that has become a viral sensation for the Jack Black starrer.

What's the Chicken Jockey scene in A Minecraft Movie?

Somewhere in the middle of A Minecraft Movie, there's a scene that shows Jason Momoa's Garrett "The Garbage Man" Garrison inside a boxing ring. He is supposed to fight a chicken. Suddenly, he sees a crate on top, slowly being lowered over the same chicken.

An olive-green-colored baby zombie appears on top of the chicken and, as mentioned before, starts riding it like it is a horse. This seemingly adorable monster puts on an evil face, charges right into Garrison, and smashes him over the ropes. As it happens, Jack Black's Steve screams,

"Chicken Jockey"

Why are teens and gamers going gaga over the Chicken Jockey scene?

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Chicken Jockey is a minor character in Mojang Studios's Minecraft video game. So, it's surprising to see it make an appearance in the film. The game's loyal fans are responding to a social media trend and joining in as a part of a multi-theater communal experience of sorts.

Within a few days of its release, they have turned this "baby zombie over a chicken" into a cultural icon. However, at least some theater owners are not pleased with their celebration since they have to take care of the leftover mess. Some of them are reportedly calling the police to put an end to this chaos.

Regardless, the film's director, Jared Hess, embraced this phenomenon. He recently told Entertainment Weekly,

"It's weird when you're having too much fun and the cops get called. It's funny because I think it's just literally cheering and throwing popcorn, which is so funny to me that cops are getting called for popcorn. Yeah, it's hilarious. I've seen so many funny videos. It's great, especially when people are climbing on their friends' shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments. It's like this crazy anticipation. But, man, I'm just glad people are making memories with their friends and families."

He further added,

"My wife and daughters were like, 'Elliot! Be quiet! We're so sick,' because he was quoting 'chicken jockey' all the time… but had no clue that it would then evolve into what's been happening at theaters. It's just a bonanza."