Parents defend kids after NJ theater calls out bad behavior at ‘Minecraft Movie’

🚨 Teens at “The Minecraft Movie” yelled and committed vandalism at a NJ theater

🚨 Parents must now accompany their children to screenings

🚨 Attendees yelled lines from the movie at screenings across the country

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (Bergen) — After “unsupervised boys” behaved in a “completely unacceptable” fashion at screenings of “The Minecraft Movie,” parents must now accompany their children at a Bergen County theater.

Some say, however, part of it may have been part of the experience as lines from the movie go viral on TikTok. 

The Township Theatre announced the new policy in a post on its Facebook page that said an unsupervised group believed to be from Waldwick committed the vandalism on Friday night and behaved in a “completely unacceptable” manner.

“We also received multiple complaints from other moviegoers who were trying to enjoy the film with their families. Video footage of the incident has been obtained,” the theater wrote in its post. “If your son was at Township Theatre last night, we strongly encourage you to have a conversation with him about his behavior.”

State Sen. Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, in a Facebook post also urged a conversation.

“This is a great local movie theater owned by a friend. It’s a shame that they even had to post this or implement this policy. Parents please talk to your kids about what not to do while out in public,” Schepisi wrote.

The theater did not disclose if police were notified or details about what happened during the screening.

ALSO READ: NJ school district plans to fire 5 staffers over student incidents

‘Chicken jockey’

Some parents in the comments provided details and said the group found lotion and spread it on chairs. But there was debate about how much was spread and speculation about whether it was mayonaise.

“I’m gonna come out and say that you calling teenage boys a-holes is very immature and sad, do you want customers or not. Things like this are gonna happen when kids are having fun and living their lives. You need to start overreacting and learn to deal with these little things. The teens weren’t doing anything disrespect and sure weren’t doing any vandalism,” one person wrote in the comments.

“Did you see the video? Did you see their behavior,” wrote another commenter in response. “Small businesses work their hearts out and our community, including our youth, should have respect. You sound like the immature a-hole.”

Some commenters said the boys were yelling out “meme” lines along with other fans of the game in the audience.

“We were there for that showing and it was such a fun movie. There were a lot of teenagers, but from what we could see from the front they seemed to be well behaved, a commenter wrote. “It was loud at times with lots of cheering and applause, but my son, his friends, and the grownups that brought them loved it. We found it added to the movie and made it more fun that the kids knew the lines and applauded certain lines and scenes.”

People reported that audiences in theaters around the country screamed and threw popcorn when Jack Black’s character Steve says the line “chicken jockey” as he rides a chicken with Garrett Garrison, played by Jason Momoa. It is a rare occurrence in the Minecraft game.

The live-action version of the video game stars Jack Black, Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge. It is rated PG but parents are not required to accompany their children. The film is the biggest of the year so far, earning $157 million domestically and $144 million internationally in its first weekend in theaters for a $301 million global debut.

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