Jared Hess has come a long way from directing Napoleon Dynamite back in 2004, 21 years later now behind what may end up being the most profitable video game movie ever made in the form of A Minecraft Movie, well on its way to making a billion dollars at the box office.
Minecraft’s young fans are loving the meme-filled movie, but most would say a little too much as chaos now reigns in theaters as this younger crowd is seemingly trying to top the insanity of other screenings they’ve seen on TikTok.
Director Jared Hess knows about all this and seems…unconcerned. Here’s a quote from him in a recent EW interview:
“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’s making it sound like kids are just tossing a few kernels of popcorn at the screen, rather than taking in enormous bags and flinging them all over the theater onto viewers. As for the cops? I mean, you can see how someone just dumping food all over you throughout the course of a movie might warrant that, or at least you might get some disturbing the peace complaints in there. Not to mention the toll this takes on theater workers, with so much to clean up that it cancels future screenings.
It just sounds a little dismissive about something that is being taken too far. There is excitement and there is whatever this is. And this really isn’t good at a certain point for many reasons, including normal theater-goers and those working at those theaters. Not that it matters what Jared Hess is going to say in an interview, as these kids are never going to read that or if they do go, “hey guys, let’s calm down, the director doesn’t want us to do this.” Still, I think he could have considered the implications of what’s going on a little better here.
Expect Minecraft figures in here shortly, and we’ll see if it tops half a billion this weekend.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Bluesky
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
