The theatrical movie business has had a strong year so far and based on the 2024 movie schedule going forward that isn't expected to change. But that’s not just thanks to the success of several high-profile films. It’s also thanks to the success of popcorn buckets. The one-time niche product, that would see a special molded plastic popcorn bucket released alongside a film has become incredibly popular this year alone, and now fans are combining some of them in…interesting ways.
This year, several notable popcorn buckets were produced, most notably the infamous Dune bucket, which resembled the open maw of a sandworm. Slate recently spoke with two of the people behind that design, and they said people are bringing that bucket together with the recently released Alien: Romulus bucket in an “adult” fashion. According to Zinc Group Global Creative Director Marcus Gonzalez…
Now people are combining the Dune bucket with the Xenomorph that we just put out for Alien Romulus. The back of the head conveniently fits inside the mouth of the worm, which it’s like … what? Who takes a look at those two things and goes, “Hey …”
Who does that? Well, a fair number of people as it turns out. Several different videos have gone viral on TikTok and YouTube showing off people pointing out that the Dune bucket is basically a big hole, and the Alien: Romulus bucket, being simply a Xenomorph head, has a fairly phallic aspect to it. I'm not sure it's that complicated to figure out what people are going with these buckets, but here's one example.
@gelfgames ♬ original sound - Mike O’Hearn
From the accidentally lewd Dune popcorn bucket, which became so mainstream it was the subject of a Saturday Night Live sketch, to the much more intentionally dirty open-mouthed Wolverine popcorn bucket for Deadpool & Wolverine, these buckets aren’t just making headlines, they’re making sales.
Unsurprisingly, before Gonzalez worked for Zinc Group making popcorn buckets, he worked for the Disney theme parks making their popcorn buckets and other novelties. Disneyland and Disney World popcorn buckets often generate lines as serious fans use them as collectibles. The buckets often appear on eBay as resellers snatch them up trying to make a few bucks off people who can’t visit the parks. That appears to be what’s happening with movie theater popcorn buckets now. With the strong sales and the resales also happening with these popular buckets after they sell out at local theaters.
At this point, it doesn’t appear that popcorn bucket fever will be leaving movie theaters anytime soon. We can expect more major releases to include them as they add an additional way for studios to promote their movies, and if they happen to go viral again, for any reason, that’s only going to be good news for everybody involved.