Despite some mixed reviews, A Minecraft Movie has been a total commercial success, breaking the record for best domestic opening weekend in the US for any video game movie — beating out 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie — and earning the titles for both the best opening weekend for any movie this year, and the biggest opening since Deadpool & Wolverine.
But, for fans of the game — or parents of fans — this might not be a surprise, with teens everywhere flooding to cinemas in anticipation of the new film, starring Jack Black.
However, what comes with a movie which has not only generated so much hype, but whose target demographic is also primarily teenage boys, is apparently some cinema scenes that not everyone is happy about.
“Seemed a little mean spirited”
A Perth parent has taken to Reddit to vent after witnessing some divisive scenes at the cinema for A Minecraft Movie over the weekend.
The poster said that they saw the movie with their teenagers in a cinema full of viewers their age, all clapping and cheering during cameos and niche references to the game. However, it quickly became clear that not everyone was okay with the extra noise.
“Took my tween / teenage kids to see the Minecraft movie last night, and was happy to see lots of kids (mainly 13-15 boys) cheering and clapping during the good bits. They were really enjoying themselves and it was great to see. Movies are back!” the post began.
“However a lady in the crowd complained to management which resulted in a Hoyts staff member screaming at everyone that there is ‘no clapping allowed’ and warned the offenders would be kicked out.”
The poster then posed the question to fellow parents – is it okay for people to get a bit noisy at the movies, or would you be a Karen too?
“I know that some may have younger children who don’t understand, or perhaps more sensitive kids that didn’t like the sudden cheering, but taking them on a Saturday evening when a movie just opened is probably not the best move,” the parent said.
“Honestly, the crowd was fairly well behaved, no one was swearing, or throwing popcorn or any other shenanigans. All I saw was big smiles and lots of laughs. Seemed a little mean spirited to complain about that.”
“It just added to the whole experience!”
Many parents in the comments agreed with the original poster, saying that after they’d seen the movie with their little ones, they came out feeling cheery – and just grateful that their kids had a good time.
“Took my kids yesterday. Was the noisiest cinema I had been in a while. But you know who was having the best time? The kids! All of them. Teenagers. Pre-teens. The young at heart. My kids giggled and played along when the older kids cheered at the movie. The movie was terrible for me, but my kids had the best time,” said one commenter.
“We took our son to watch it on Friday night – cinema was full of teenagers, mostly boys, and mostly mid-teens. My initial thought was that this might get rowdy and I was preparing myself for that but I was pleasantly surprised. They clapped and cheered throughout the movie and I was just so happy for them,” another agreed.
“I thought it was super wholesome that you have a bunch of teenagers who obviously grew up playing Minecraft, having been waiting for this movie to come out for literally forever and were just thoroughly enjoying having their favourite game brought to life like that. It just added to the whole experience and as someone who has never really gotten into Minecraft I just felt happy for them to experience joy.”
“Honestly I would’ve preferred the boys having fun, as long as they’re not throwing popcorn or screeching vulgar things, what’s the harm. It’s meant to be a fun movie aimed at younger audiences. Honestly it would’ve made my own child happy (6) who’s very minecraft obsessed and loves to express excitement about his favorite things,” said a third.
“There is zero reason for clapping at a film”
However, not everyone agreed, with many commenters saying that it’s rude and inconsiderate to be noisy during a movie.
“I’m really glad your son enjoyed the movie! But I’m wondering, when has it been normal/acceptable to clap during movies? Laughing, totally understand, but I feel like clapping and cheering during a film is really inconsiderate…” one commenter said.
“It’s a movie not a sports game. Saw Avatar in the USA when it came out and the audience was the same. Cheering like it was a grand final every step of the way. Trashy. Just sit and enjoy the movie and applaud it when it’s finished if you absolutely must…” said another.
“Clapping and cheering don’t belong during a movie, everyone else is trying to watch it too. Even clapping at the end is weird, no one involved is present for the applause,” a third person agreed.
“There is zero reason for clapping at a film. This session sounds like a nightmare and I would have complained also,” one person said.
