The West Bend Current

Zach Church and Brady Dudzek usually go to work to sell popcorn and soda, not clean them up.

They work at the West Bend Cinema on Parkway Drive, where “A Minecraft Movie” has resulted in the same mayhem that has afflicted theaters across the country since the film’s release on April 4. Audiences have reacted to popular characters and catchphrases by yelling and throwing concessions. In one viral video, a live chicken was brought into a theater. For school-aged employees in West Bend, the trend has made their jobs much more difficult.

“It’s made the theater a lot more messy, it’s made the people care about stuff less and how they act in the theaters and has made people hate their experiences at the theater,” said Dudzek, a senior at West Bend West High School.

Church says that his first negative experience with the film was actually as an audience member on April 10, which was a busy Friday screening.

“As soon as we got inside, we heard a group of around four kids, aged maybe 7-12, cheering really loudly and moving around the theater,” said Church, a film major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who graduated from West Bend East High School in 2024, and has been working at the theater since 2022.

He explained to the kids that he was a shift manager at the theater, and that obnoxious behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.

“At one point in the film, Jason Momoa’s character is kidnapped and forced to fight an enemy in a boxing ring,” Church said. “As soon as his opponent is revealed, Jack Black screams out the name of this threat, ‘Chicken Jockey!’ At this moment, an extremely loud cheer erupted from the group, and suddenly my friend and I were covered in popcorn.”

Church lectured the boys and after the movie finished, the theater gave them brooms. The next day, the cinema posted flyers discouraging this behavior. Church still had to clean a theater with scattered popcorn, confetti and banana peels.

“After what happened the night before, we weren’t taking any chances on Saturday,” he said. “We gave verbal warnings to everyone heading into the film.”

Church says theater staff even had to confiscate two bananas from out of one guy’s sweatpants.

The theater’s associate manager, Jason Anderson, says new restrictions and warnings were put in place for the film. Disruptive customers will be escorted out without a refund. The theater’s existing curfew policy will also be enforced.

“Usually kids that are under the age of 18 have to be here accompanied by a 21-year-old,” Anderson said. “If they are over the age of 18 then they are good as well. We do increase the price of tickets after five o’clock to eleven dollars from nine.”

Staff members now attend the Chicken Jockey scene and other moments during the movie. Anderson once walked into a theater with seats covered in butter, and after walking back out saw people throwing popcorn in the halls as well.

“We’re workers, we don’t really want to see that kind of stuff,” he said.

Anderson has had to stay at the cinema as late as 2 a.m. and Dudzek has had to stay as late as 1:30 a.m.

“The first weekend, every day people were staying late to clean, especially that Saturday,” Dudzek said.

The theater has benefited from the film tremendously though, as it has become one of the most popular movies to ever play at the West Bend Cinema.

“I think the first day it came out we made a profit of $3,000 of just the Minecraft movie alone in tickets and that’s not including our concessions like creeper buckets and stuff like that,” Anderson said.

“A Minecraft Movie” domestically has made $362 million, and has made the most money of any movie released this year so far. Dudzek says he likes that the theater is making profits, but doesn’t like how the crowds have affected his work. 

“About two weeks ago someone brought in confetti poppers, and silly string, and shot them off during the Chicken Jockey time,” Dudzek said.

Church was working that night, and recalled the moment it occurred. 

“It was like a coordinated attack,” he said. “No sooner had Jack Black proudly announced ‘Chicken Jockey!’ then eight people sitting directly next to each other stood up and unloaded confetti cannons onto the audience. A few also brought silly string and proceeded to (fire) point-blank (at) the people in front of them, including a little girl.”

West business teacher Nick Heiting, who thought about bringing his own daughter to the film, mentioned seeing the various stories on the disturbances inside theaters. He has decided to wait until the fad dies down.

“Of course it’s fun, and funny, it’s always funny to do dumb stuff,” Heiting said. “The problem is that when other people have to pay for the stupidity that you have done, then it’s not really appropriate.”

Church remembers seeing the little girl crying while trying to pull out the silly string caught in her hair. 

“She was just trying to enjoy ‘Minecraft’ with her mom, and now that experience was ruined,” he said. “I felt so bad for her.”

None of these unpleasant moments kept Church from seeing the movie a second time. As an employee, he was able to run “A Minecraft Movie” after closing up the theater and enjoy it without interruption. 

“It was probably the best way to relax after what I had been through,” he said.

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(Video courtesy of West Bend Cinema Shift Manager Zach Church.)