Brief oral history: How ‘A Minecraft Movie’ rode the chicken jockey to the top of the box office

Minecraft is, perhaps, the ultimate sandbox game. Infinite space, multiple game modes, and seemingly endless updates: The game’s limitless possibilities have helped it sell more than 350 million copies since it launched in 2011 (only Tetris has sold more games, and it had a 27-year lead). In 2014, Microsoft acquired Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5 billion. That same year, Mojang Studios began trying to figure out how to turn an open-ended game into a narrative film for Warner Bros.

By 2022, the adaptation coalesced around Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess, featuring Jason Momoa as Garrett Garrison, a human trapped in-game, and Hess’s Nacho Libre star Jack Black as the game’s default avatar, Steve. Released on April 4, 2025, A Minecraft Movie became the second-highest-grossing film of the year.

Kayleen Walters, head of Mojang Studios and VP of franchise development for gaming at Microsoft: We wanted to push the story beyond what players experience in-game and do something special for the film, making sure Minecraft not only stayed true to its roots but also created an experience that welcomed new fans into the franchise.

Jared Hess, director, A Minecraft Movie: [With an adaptation] you want to really be aware of what’s special about the game, because it’s something that a lot of people share. Once we realize that we are one of millions of stories that kids and adults bring to the game when they play it, it’s like, “Let’s just go have fun and let’s celebrate what we love about it.”

While telling an original story, A Minecraft Movie also weaves in self-aware mentions of gameplay elements. One of those is the “chicken jockey”—a rare in-game enemy consisting of a small, fast-moving zombie riding a chicken.

The trailer teased a scene that has Momoa squaring off to fight one, with Black shouting “Chicken jockey!” When theater audiences—mostly composed of early-twentysomethings raised on the game—saw the scene, they lost it. Popcorn flew, people cheered, and at least one person brought a live chicken to a showing.

Walters: People made memes from the trailer, so by the time people were in the theater, they were primed to participate in ways that usually only happen with cult movies that have been around for years.

Ciara Farris, radio, television, and film student at Northwestern University and casual Minecraft fan: I went to see the movie with 15 people. It was so much fun to see all the internet hype around it.

I think a beautiful thing about social media and the current online scene is that you can get a detailed idea of the experience people are having in theaters that you might only get through word of mouth if we didn’t have social media.

The chaotic silliness from the chicken jockey reactions made a serious mess of theaters. To contain the excitement without killing it, Regal Cinemas held special screenings of A Minecraft Movie on April 20 last year, at which fans were encouraged to dress up and shout.

James Lamar, VP of film, alternative content, Regal Cinemas: Our operations teams work really hard to keep the theaters clean and nice, and there’s things being damaged, screens being torn, and we absolutely don’t want that. But that’s where we jump into action and say, “How can we better direct this enthusiasm?” It was less than a week and a half that we turned everything around.

Hess: I was talking with theater workers, and I was like, “Guys, I’m so sorry about the mess that’s happening.” They were like, “We are so grateful. We weren’t able to make our hours because people weren’t coming to the theater, and now we’re getting overtime.”

The film’s influence wasn’t just a viral moment—A Minecraft Movie has grossed $961 million worldwide, and Black’s 34-second ditty, “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” became the shortest song ever to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also inspired an in-game Easter egg.

Hess: Now when you kill a chicken jockey in the game, a record pops up. You can take that record and put it in a record player in the game and play it, and it’s the melody of “Steve’s Lava Chicken.” It’s super fun that you can have that collaborative interplay between a movie and a game.

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