From chicken jockey to "I am Steve," Minecraft director reflects on the viral moments that went mainstream: "People just really zeroed in on funny quotes"

A Minecraft Movie director Jared Hess says the pic has taken on a life of its own.

"Once the marketing over the last couple of months really started to kick into gear, and people just really zeroed in on funny quotes in the materials that resonated, it just took on a life of its own. But you can’t ever anticipate that," Hess told Deadline.

A life of its own is an understatement given how many kids have been kicked out of theaters in the last four days (yes, it's only been four days since the film hit theaters) for screaming 'chicken jockey.' The live-action pic is both kid-friendly and extremely quotable, creating its own fan-made marketing campaign. Not to mention the fact that people who have never even heard the phrase 'Minecraft' are now frantically googling terms like "enderman" and "creeper."

The film follows four regular world humans (Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, and Emma Myers) who find themselves trapped in a strange cubic world where their only chance of survival falls depends on an equally strange in-game character named Steve (Jack Black).

"My nephew lives in New York, he’s in high school, and he went twice over the weekend with friends - he literally Facetimed me from his classroom," Hess continued. "And he’s like, 'Uncle Jared, Hey, hey dude, I’ve got some friends here. They got a question.' And I said, in Jack’s voice, “Water bucket release!” And dude, that whole classroom just exploded. Then I said, 'chicken jockey,' and it went bananas again."

A Minecraft Movie is out now. For more on the movie, check out our A Minecraft Movie review, or read our guides on A Minecraft Movie ending explained.