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Talk about an earworm.
Jack Black broke a Billboard Hot 100 record this week when his song from “A Minecraft Movie,” called “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” reached No. 78 on the popular singles chart.
The catchy tune, which clocks in at just 34 seconds, is officially the shortest song to make the Billboard Hot 100 list in the chart’s 67-year history.
With chickens squawking and lava sizzling in the background, Black, 55, sings about what you get when the two very different things are combined: Steve’s Lava Chicken.
“La-la-la-lava, ch-ch-ch-chicken/Steve’s Lava Chicken, yeah, it’s tasty as hell/Ooh, mamacita, now you’re ringing the bell,” the “School of Rock” actor croons. “Crispy and juicy, now you’re having a snack/Oh, super spicy, it’s a lava attack.”
Before “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” the shortest song to make the Billboard Hot 100 chart was Kid Cudi’s 37-second track “Beautiful Trip” back in 2020. It reached No. 100 at the time.
But “Steve’s Lava Chicken” hitting No. 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending May 3 is not the only record “A Minecraft Movie” has helped Black break.
With a whopping $157 million at the domestic box office in its first weekend, “A Minecraft Movie” shattered the $146.3 million domestic opening of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in 2023, which was the previous opening record for a video game-based movie.
“A Minecraft Movie” has also grossed an impressive $816 million globally as of April 27, according to Variety, making the flick the biggest movie yet of 2025.
Coincidentally, Black stars in both “A Minecraft Movie” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
The “Steve’s Lava Chicken” milestone comes after “A Minecraft Movie” made headlines for a very different reason.
Shortly after the film was released on April 4, swarms of teenage boys began going to theaters to throw popcorn buckets, spill soda, jump on seats and break out into fights during a scene involving a baby zombie riding a chicken.
The “chicken jockey” trend became so chaotic that several movie theaters banned minors from seeing the PG adventure-action flick without a parent or adult guardian present.
According to one New Jersey theater, a group of boys “engaged in completely unacceptable behavior, including vandalism” during one screening of “A Minecraft Movie.”
“We also received multiple complaints from other moviegoers who were trying to enjoy the film with their families,” the theater added in a Facebook post at the time.
Some behavior from Gen Alpha and Gen Z moviegoers was even likened to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“I haven’t been to a movie with an audience this hyped since I saw ‘Magic Mike’ on opening night at the old Regal theater in Brooklyn Heights,” a 50-year-old resident from Mamaroneck, New York, who went with his 8- and 11-year-old sons to a showing, exclusively told The Post.
“My screening was pure pandemonium, in a fun way,” he added. “It reminded me of going to see ‘Rocky Horror.’”
“Teens, tweens, and below were hooting and hollering from the moment the lights went down to play trailers. In between trailers, one kid – probably 13 or 14 – announced to the theater, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, if you see my popcorn flying through the air, do not be alarmed.’”
The craze became so out of hand that Black himself was forced to visit a Los Angeles cinema to caution the kids in attendance against any wild and unruly behavior.
“For today’s presentation of ‘A Minecraft Movie,’ please, no throwing popcorn, and also no lapis lazuli, and absolutely no Chicken Jockey!” the “High Fidelity” actor forewarned during a screening earlier this month.
Besides Black, “A Minecraft Movie” stars Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Jennifer Coolidge, Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Danielle Brooks.
English (US)