The internet is obsessing over movie-themed popcorn buckets, with each new design becoming an online sensation and elevated to coveted collectable. What in the seventh art is going on with the "War of the Popcorn Buckets"?
ADVERTISEMENTOrdering popcorn before a movie used to be a pretty banal affair – paper or cardboard buckets with all the stability of a late stage Jenga tower, brimming with more corn than anyone can eat in one sitting.
The perfect order is half salty / half sweet, in case you were wondering.
But things have changed, as 2024 has revealed itself to be the year the "War of the Popcorn Buckets" broke out.
Indeed, when it comes to promoting a new release, more and more studios and theatres are turning to extra merchandising by investing in novelty and limited edition popcorn buckets. Gone are your parents’ classic receptacles, which have been upstaged by more expensive movie props which are fast turning into collectables.
The trend kicked into gear this year with the instantly iconic Dune: Part Two sandworm popcorn bucket, which gained online infamy when fans noted that even the purest of minds could tell that it bore more than a passing resemblence to an adult toy.
The NSFW marketing coup worked, as the bucket sold out faster than you can say “Spicetacular” - with the bucket becoming a collector’s item that now sells online for sometimes more than double the original price.
Since it did gangbusters, everyone got in on it – Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire got ghost traps and a Slimer design; Despicable Me 4 went for a (rather inspired) Minion baby carrier; Inside Out 2 opted for the vessel shaped like the control module in Ripley’s head... There doesn’t seem to be a blockbuster release without the tie-in popcorn merch.
Deadpool & Wolverine also ran with it and parodied Dune: Part Two by peddling their own version of the sexually suggestive bucket. Ryan Reynolds even posted about the now collectible that has audience members having to reach inside Wolverine’s gaping mouth to yank out their treats.
No need to elaborate on risqué implications there...
The upcoming Alien film, Alien: Romulus is also getting in on the action with some terrifying facehugger antics, and we’re even coming full circle for 2024 with the Venice Film Festival premiering Beetlejuice Beetlejuice getting its very own worm bucket too, with the iconic two-headed sandworm from the original movie adorning this year’s bucket. That sweet design sits alongside two others: The Handbook for the Recently Deceased Container and a Tombstone bucket.
So, what is behind the rise of increasingly strange and elaborate popcorn containers?
In a word: revenue.
These buckets can go from €20 up to a whopping €60, and are a creative - some might say shameless - bid to generate income for a struggling movie theatre industry that’s faced with day-and-date releases and release-to-streaming windows getting narrower and narrower. They’re an effective way of trying to convince people to leave their couches and to embrace exclusive merchandise that brings back a sense of “eventification” to the cinemagoing experience. Something which has been lost in a post-pandemic world.
Plus, considering the designs are doing the rounds online, the more viral the buckets become, the better for the film’s box office prospects. Whether that can translate into a meaningful uptick in ticket sales is another matter, but it certainly can’t hurt – especially for cinema chains struggling to stay open.
For instance, the AMC theatre chain in US – who are behind a lot of these buckets - reported that last year, collectible tins and other movie-themed merch brought the company $54 million (approx. €49.4 million) in revenue. Not too shabby.
ADVERTISEMENTBecause commemorative buckets are hardly a new phenomenon, and you can’t blame Dune: Part Two and its inadvertently saucy promotion for all of this.
Last year’s Barbie had a pink Corvette popcorn container; there was an Ant-Man popcorn helmet for the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; and there were even Taylor Swift buckets for the screenings of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. But 2024 seems to be the year novelty popcorn receptacles boomed.
Behind what seems like a gimmicky tactic is a rather savvy marketing strategy. The more elaborate, film-accurate (and silly) the designs are, the more viral they become, leading to collectible status and meaning that punters will rush to their cinema chain to part ways with their doubloons so they can pick up their very own piece of hot movie property. And with the likes of Venom: The Last Dance, Gladiator II, Wicked, Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King coming out later this year (dear god, did we need any of these, really?), you can bet that the "War of the Popcorn Buckets" isn’t a trend that will limit itself to the summer blockbuster season.
Snacking in the theatre is not just about popcorn anymore; it’s about theatres eargerly – and as a matter of necessity - trying to claw their way back to pre-COVID numbers by attempting to maximize profit margins. One kernel at a time.
ADVERTISEMENTThe question remains: Which Alien: Romulus bucket would you pick?
