[[quoteright:315:[[Manga/MythicalDetectiveLokiRagnarok https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/loki_mass_chase_5.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:315:''[[Film/AHardDaysNight It's been a hard day's night...]]'']]

This is when, for any reason, one or more characters are chased by a large handful of other characters. In animated shows this can often have a freeze frame shot. Sometimes a show even [[ChasedOffIntoTheSunset ends an episode on this]].

Has a ''high'' probability of being scored to [[StandardSnippet Yakety Sax]], and may very well include visual elements associated with [[Series/TheBennyHillShow that very show]].

A SuperTrope to ThunderingHerd.

A SisterTrope to EscalatingChase (this trope doesn't require escalation, while that trope doesn't require the bulk of the cast).

Compare ChasedByAngryNatives, TorchesAndPitchforks (which may very well overlap with this).

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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Happens a lot in ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' especially at the end of an episode. Most of the times it's Nobita who gets chased due to misusing a gadget.
* It's happened to Sousuke in ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu''.
* In ''Manga/GTO14DaysInShonan'', a huge crowd of thugs surrounds Onizuka after Miki puts out a hit on him on the internet. He realizes there are too many and makes a run for it, with all of them in hot pursuit.
* Happens in ''Literature/LadiesVersusButlers'' when Akiharu is accidentally branded as both a pervert and a delinquent.
* One end of an episode in ''Anime/MegamanNTWarrior'' had this.
* As per the page image, ''Manga/MythicalDetectiveLokiRagnarok'' had Yamino and Loki being chased by a BrainwashedAndCrazy Thor, and then successively by Heimdal, Frey, and Freya.
* Happens in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' on occasion.
** One notable example occurs during Ako's DayInTheLimelight micro-arc: Negi, thanks to the use of a time machine, ends up being chased by Madoka, ''two'' versions of Kotaro, Chachamaru and Chisame, and ''himself''.
** Later events have taken this to the next (il)logical step, with the entire ''school'' after him.
* This happened a lot at the end of the first series of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', usually Team Rocket being chased by an angry mob of either humans they scammed or Pokémon that they tried to steal.
* The opening scene of the first ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' movie is a constantly escalating version of this.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' spinoff ''Manga/FourTownFourReal'', Aaron T. and his bodyguard are chased by a crowd of fans through a mall.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' has found himself on the receiving end of this more than once.
* A frequent ending -- almost OnceAnEpisode -- in ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer:'' after the title character has attempted to help some poor unfortunates and only succeeded in making them ''more'' unfortunate, he's run out of town.
* A lot of ''ComicBook/LeonardLeGenie'' stories end like this, usually because half the town is destroyed thanks to his inventions.
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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Disney's adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' ends with everyone in Wonderland chasing Alice through a swirling abyss right before she awakens in the real world.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': Miles is chased through the Nueva York HQ by hundreds of Spider-People after Miguel sends a directive to capture him.
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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AustinPowers'' starts with a sequence of people chasing him through town. Set to the ThemeTune.
* Creator/BusterKeaton:
** In the short film "Film/{{Cops|1922}}", he ends up getting chased by what looks like hundreds of cops.
** His feature film ''Film/SevenChances'' ends with him being chased by hundreds of women wanting to marry him.
* A classic example would be ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'''s monster.
* The famous opening of ''Film/AHardDaysNight'' where Music/TheBeatles get chased by their fans. Notable in that it wasn't just footage shot for the film, but ''actual'' footage of the Beatles getting chased by their fans that happened to be caught on film.
* The entire movie ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' is a snowballing cascade of mob chases, as more and more of Hollywood's top actors join in the fun.
* Happens twice to pre-frosh character Tom in ''Film/{{PCU}}'', and later in the film they [[ExploitedTrope exploit it]]. By the end, [[LaserGuidedKarma it happens to one of the antagonists]].
* A scene in ''Film/SchoolOfRock'', after the parents [[PaedoHunt take Dewey's remark about touching something in their kids literally]].
* In ''Film/LovePotionNumberNine'' the female antagonist, figuring more is better, overdoses on the titular love potion, which causes every man who hears her voice to fall in love with her, and every woman who hears her voice to hate her. And then she goes out in public...
* During the climactic chase scene in ''Film/MovingViolations'', one of the characters runs through a convention of police chiefs and ends up with all of the attendees (in full uniform) chasing after them.
* ''Film/AceVentura: When Nature Calls'' ends with the villain chased by the entire Wachootoo tribe because he stole their sacred bat, shortly followed by Ace himself chased by the entire Wachati tribe after they find out he deflowered their high priestess.
%%* [[ComingAttractions Promo posters]] for ''The Marrying Man''.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* At the end of ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', [[DaChief Commander Vimes]] was leading a procession and spotted an [[ThievesGuild unlicensed]] thief stealing a lady's bag. He immediately gave chase while still leading the procession, which caused the people behind him to follow his lead since they didn't really know if this was how things were supposed to go, which caused the people behind them to run after them since they don't know what's happening at the front and they're getting left behind, which caused everyone watching to run after them too because, well, everyone else was doing it. While all of this was happening, the poor thief continued to run as fast as he could because he had taken one look over his shoulder and found the whole of Ankh-Morpork society bearing down on him.
* Throughout its killing spree in ''Literature/TheFatalDream'', the Pteranodon is hunted by the male hero, two FBI agents, a terrorist organisation, the police force of Western Australia, and the Australian Federal Police.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' would most likely be the TropeCodifier, as many, many of the episodes ended up with someone being chased by an ever growing line of irate bystanders, usually accompanied by "Yakkity Sax" in the background.
* The Australian TV show ''The Farmer Wants a Wife''.
* [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] by Ned, Cookie and Moze in the GrandFinale of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''-- they intentionally get the groups after them (Crubbs, the art gallery guard, and a [[ItMakesSenseInContext bunch of samurai warriors]]) to chase them and they all converge in the gallery, where a bunch of crooks planning to steal a priceless painting are caught in the act.
* ''Series/{{Chucklevision}}'' did this a lot.
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[[folder:Music Videos]]
* In the Semisonic video, ''[[https://youtu.be/kryV3E4QKGk Secret Smile]]'', a couple (one of them being the lead singer) accidentally elicits this while escaping the invasive cameramen working with a [[IntrepidReporter pesky reporter]], [[GroupieBrigade fans]], and various movie studio patrons, to whom the pair unwittingly barges in on in different studios, give chase.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* This happens in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' if a Boomer vomits on you. Assuming, of course, you've got enough room to run and don't get immediately surrounded by the horde.
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', Sam Starfall seems to seek out such episodes.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Greg}}'', Ted streaks across a college campus naked, as everyone chases him for disguising himself as a phony professor.
* Frequently the story arcs of ''Webcomic/InvinceaAndTheWarriorsFromHell'' culminate in some form of this as Invincea or her friends wind up drawing the attention of several groups of enemies.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar"[[note]]The episode where Peter goes to a women's retreat after getting in trouble for telling sexist jokes to a woman at work and becoming so in touch with his feminine side that he doesn't know what it's like to be masculine anymore[[/note]] had Cleveland take Peter to The Million Man March, as Cleveland believes that being a man means learning respect and love for his own gender. Peter (who has been warped by feminism) believes that if men were more caring to women, society would be a better place and decides to get on the mike and let it be known. However, because Peter is a white guy angrily accusing all the men in the audience for causing society's ills and the fact that the audience consists of militant black men, this leads to this trope and MistakenForRacist in the form of an overhead shot of Peter getting chased by everyone at the Million Man March.
* Happens in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster The Ticket Master]]". When everyone realizes that Twilight Sparkle has tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, they all chase her trying to ask her to take them with her, complete with a SuspiciouslySimilarSong version of "[[Series/TheBennyHillShow Yakety Sax]]".
* Similarly, many chase scenes in ''[[WesternAnimation/SonicBoom Sonic Boom]]'' use a variation on Yakety Sax for the background music.
* Happens on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' a couple times, most of which involve Homer and/or Bart.
** "Bart vs. Australia," when everyone in the family is being chased by an array of living Australian stereotypes and characters -- including a character from the movie ''Mad Max'' -- because Bart refuses to get kicked in the butt as part of his punishment for prank-calling an Australian boy.
** "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner," when all the restaurateurs and chefs of Springfield chase after Homer after Lisa saves him from eating a dangerous eclair.
** "Saddlesore Galactica," where jockey-sized trolls chase after Homer after Homer breaks his promise to throw the horse race so they can win.
** "Missionary Impossible," where Creator/{{PBS}} characters chase after Homer after he tricks them into thinking he's pledging $10,000 to the network. Highlights include threats from Fred Rogers and some of the Sesame Street Muppets, and the Teletubbies joining in by firing lasers from their antenna.
* Happens to the titular heroes in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', from three sources. Crazed Japanese schoolgirls were pursuing Beast Boy, Cyborg was hounded by sushi chefs, and Robin was chased by...[[ItMakesSenseInContext the local authorities]]. Eventually, there was a mass convergence.
* The ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode "Closet Clown" ends with Rocko stating he likes rainbows, followed by all his friends and neighbors [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything getting irrationally angry and chasing him out of town]].
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': In "Vacation", after Nom Nom blows his cover at the airport while trying to catch a flight to a spa resort, he and Grizz end up chased by a horde of Nom Nom's crazy fans.
* WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle are chased by the entire city at the end of "Sappy New Year" after the firecrackers and assorted explosives they threw out (as their New Year resolution) accidentally get lit and rolls down the street.
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