Moviegoer reveals distress after fire extinguisher unpinned during Minecraft movie in Melbourne’s east as ‘chicken jockey’ craze sweeps through cinemas

A Melbourne moviegoer has revealed her “panic” after her “throat felt really tight”, when someone let off a fire extinguisher in a movie theatre at Eastland Hoyts in Ringwood.

The unnamed woman, along with her children, were watching the Minecraft movie.

The film, based on the popular video game, has been at the centre of a viral “chicken jockey” trend, which sees movie watchers throw popcorn, clap and scream during a scene in the film.

The “chicken jockey” rallying cry occurs when Jason Momoa’s character Garrett Garrison fights a child zombie who rides a chicken — hence the name — halfway through the film.

In one instance, moviegoers snuck a real chicken into a cinema.

However, the trend took an even darker turn when someone pulled the pin of a fire extinguisher.

“Within a second, you could feel your throat feeling really tight,” the woman told 7NEWS, which was aired on Sunrise on Thursday.

“The kids were all choking, and that’s when I kinda went into a panic.

“It was actually burning to swallow.”

During screenings of the film, there have been reports of fights breaking out between moviegoers in New South Wales.

US movie theatres are starting to ask for children and teenagers to be accompanied by an adult to watch the film.

A move which could also occur in Australian movie theaters.

On Thursday, Sunrise reporter Andrew McCormack explained the trend.

“There’s fun and stupid, and this has clearly tipped into the latter category,” McCormack said.

“For clicks and views online, kids are just trashing the cinema. Popcorn, flour, all sorts of rubbish. They are filming it and putting it up on TikTok and the likes.

“A fire extinguisher was let off and filmed for online. Parents, families, grandparents in there just trying to have a good time and enjoy the movie.”