The rise of interactive cinema
Internet memes are showing that people are looking for a unique and interactive experience at the movies.
By Jake Boyette
“A Minecraft Movie” has quickly become the highest-grossing movie in the U.S., making $800 million in under a month, according to Box Office Mojo, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. It’s been hard to ignore the advertisements and the online buzz with memes like the Chicken Jockey scene going viral.
The virality has movie patrons going wild, screaming, tossing popcorn at the screen and even someone in Provo bringing a real-life chicken, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
This has movie theaters worried, with some taking steps to warn the audience that they may be ejected for disruption of the movie, according to the Guardian. Some viewers have even been escorted out by the police. However, there is no denying that “A Minecraft Movie” is making money, with theatres like AMC now offering a special block party screening, encouraging the rowdy audience to sing and meme along.
This may seem shocking at first, as most people expect a quiet movie-going experience, but the emergence of the Chicken Jockey trend shows that excited and loud movie experiences are also a valid a way to experience a film.
Movies are slices of our culture and while this makes for good marketing, there is a desire in people to experience movies not as individuals, but as a larger community.
Viral marketing isn’t new. This trend can be linked back to 1999’s “Blair Witch Project,” which used the internet to enhance the mystery of the mockumentary and make it seem like the events in the movie were real. Its marketing was so successful that they reached over 100,000 views on their website in 1999 before the movie even came out, according to The Los Angeles Times.
This got people involved with the movie, with theories and speculations on what was real and what wasn’t. This marketing didn’t just create buzz for the movie, but it brought people together to discuss the film and see what would happen next.
The significant advantage of this strategy is how little you have to spend on marketing. The “Blair Witch Project” only spent $1.5 million while most big movie studios had to spend $25 million or more, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Other movie studios have tried to replicate this strategy to varying success, but the most successful strategy is embracing the buzz from memes and online trends, turning them into real marketable ideas.
Recent trends like the viral “Barbenheimmer” trend in 2023 created a phenomenon online, where people started to watch them back-to-back as a joke before it became a serious double feature. The two films were drastically different but came out on the same day.
Discussion online led to community events to plan how to watch both movies effectively, as seen in a Reddit post. These moments brought people of all ages together, creating a more communal way to enjoy films.
This trend alone led to “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” making more than $100 million and more than $80 million in the same opening week, according to AP News. With no official Barbenheimer marketing from either of the parent companies, the trend was organically produced advertisement. However, the actors of both films acknowledged the trend with support for the double screening, according to BuzzFeed.
This organic community building is amazing to see. It breaks away from the usual, singular experience you’d share with a handful of friends. Connecting with strangers on trend for a movie makes it feel like we are all a part of a bigger moment or cultural experience.
It’s no wonder that movie studios are playing into these trends. This has led to some funny ploys, such as souvenir popcorn buckets becoming weirder, such as “Dune 2’s” themed sand worm bucket, which gathered massive online attention.
Viral movie marketing doesn’t just extend to souvenirs and ticket sales, but it has led other movies to promote themselves with the use of these organically made trends.
For “Wicked,” many excited fans were styling outfits on social media, deciding what to wear for the premiere. The marketing team behind the film tapped into this, collaborating with thousands of online influencers and beauty brands to promote their opening day, according to Traackr.
These marketing strategies are predatory as the companies jump on a community-made trend and intertwine it with their products for profit. However, it’s hard to deny that this strategy gives the audience for these movies a chance to express themselves with what they love. We shouldn’t dismiss these trends because marketing teams are getting in on them too.
While the audience for “A Minecraft Movie” is younger, the game “Minecraft” has been a large part of many childhoods. The same was seen with the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie, which drew in an 81% audience of viewers younger than 25, according to Boxoffice Pro.
These movies touch on our cultural connection as young people. Despite how underwhelming “A Minecraft Movie” has been, it has brought people together both online and in real life.
“When we were younger, it felt like we had a lot more freedom to explore and be with friends,” owner of the Odeon Star Cinema in Australia Joe Proud said. “These days, children spend a lot more time at home on digital entertainment. Children craving those real-life connections and having the opportunity to spend time with a group of like-minded people in a safe and supportive environment could well be a driving factor.”
Odeon Star Cinema hosted a special “Chicken Jockey” screening to create an interactive movie moment where they allowed participants to throw popcorn, using a special popcorn cannon to add excitement.
This event was a massive success as they sold out of tickets and popcorn sales were more than they could have expected. Being a family-owned theatre, the event got their theatre recognized in local and national news while going viral online, showing that these trends are beneficial not just for massive movie theatres but also for smaller theatres.
This isn’t the first time that interactive films gained popularity, as films like the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” are increasingly popular with the audience participating in the enjoyment of the movie. This creates a real sense of community in the theater, as in India this sort of audience participation is quite common. Hollering, talking and even catcalling the actors on screen is the norm there, and unlike with the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the interactions aren’t scripted, they’re expected.
The experience is one where moviegoers will go and rewatch a movie multiple times to become familiar with it and give feedback to producers, becoming less alienated from the movie they’re watching, according to The Guardian.
This is completely different from Western cinema, of course, but interactive movie experiences like “A Minecraft Movie” and others like “Wicked: Sing Along” screenings show that this kind of participation can have a place as a new and unique way of watching filmsfilms.
“I think cinemas, including ourselves, would be open to more interactive screenings as long as there is no risk of damage to the cinema. I would be more than happy to increase our staff numbers to cater for a bit of a mess,” Proud said.
I know that this is not the case for everyone. When I first saw the Chicken Jockey trend, I felt that it was ridiculous. For most people, a quiet place to watch a movie on a big screen feels like the best way to truly envelop yourself in what the director is showing you.
However, this effect can be achieved at home. Larger televisions and better audio systems have become cheaper and more available, while streaming services offer thousands of new movies in the comfort of your home. Movies like “Five Nights at Freddy’s” premiered on Peacock the same day it was released theatrically, causing many fans to host watch parties rather than attend the theater. These factors are causing cinemas to struggle in this new streaming service landscape, according to The Huntington News.
Interactive movies give the audience something new and bring together a community. It allows for a unique human connection the theater offers that streaming services can’t.
“Obviously, cinema is dying a slow death, which has been hastened with streaming services. COVID also pushed that forward. While I think there will always be Cinemas, I don’t think it will be in the numbers it is today. We have to try and offer an experience you cannot get at home watching Netflix,” Proud said.
There have been many cases where audience members have gone too far, but there is a real and genuine excitement that brings people together. Expanding the moviegoing experience to one that allows for interaction is profitable and desirable for certain audiences.
There should be precautions involved as I don’t think people should be allowed to bring livestock as their plus one, but this new way of community-based screenings shouldn’t be discouraged just because it’s different to how movies are normally enjoyed.
