Popcorn Buckets Fascinate Me

 Summer movie season is here, though it began in May with Thunderbolts. The time of year where a new movie is coming out every weekend, from animated hits, to super hero stories, to reboots and sequels. When going to the movies aside from trailers, epic stories, and depending on where you go potentially Nicole Kidman. Of course there is always the option of candy, soda, and the staple of popcorn, but now in recent years that classic movie snack is being presented in so many different ways. The modern movie popcorn bucket, collectors items that have been taking theaters and the internet by storm.

I even own a special popcorn bucket and have seen some, from the Dune Sandworm that broke the internet and even caused a SNL parody song, to a hammer from Lord Of The Rings. Whenever a movie is announced and approaches its release now every chain has a popcorn bucket to call its own that you can only find at their establishments. Meaning that with an upcoming film, you can compare buckets based on the same film. 

Movie news outlets now release updates for buckets and the movie theater chains you can find them at. Movies sometimes even getting popcorn buckets that are more associated with something that a series of films is known for than something from the current movie. Such as for Deadpool and Wolverine, there was a bucket of Deadpool sitting on a taxi cab which is more known for the first and second films, but is not featured in the third.

Some are designed and capture the idea of what they are representing, and some are just the characters from the movie. For example, one I own was for Barbie and was a box similar to a Barbie doll box which fits for the movie, but I have seen some that are just props from a franchise. One I have seen and thought was super cool was a Bat Signal from the rerelease of Batman 89 and it even lit up, or a core memory from Inside Out that looked like the memories from the movie and even lit up as well. Some light up, some are just very detailed, and look like they belong in the world of the films they come from.

At the end of the day these are just cool collectors items as most of them are sold, filled, and given a refill and that's it. You take it home with you and use it or in my case display it. Such as the hammer from Lord Of The Rings that stores the popcorn in the head of the hammer which is cool but also a large hammer with a long handle which I have seen in person in a movie theater lobby. 

The buckets do come at a price, some of them being double if not triple the price of a ticket to see the movie, and more than your average bucket which you can get a refill on and drink. Buying a ticket, and some snacks adds up to just about the same, but these buckets keep being made for every movie. With these buckets being different at every different theater, patrons like myself are left only with what is available with what is nearby, and stock is a factor as well. 

Not every movie gets a popcorn bucket, and some chains offer seasonal buckets that offer refills throughout the coming months for a set amount of time, or rewards that lead to discounted concessions. So there are options compared to getting these specialty buckets. 

At the end of the day, I do wonder how long this trend will last, due to the higher pricing of these buckets, and the current state of movie theaters already trying to just draw people in to see movies. With films going to streaming so quickly, the cost of renting, or just waiting for it to show up on a streaming service, aside from trying to sell concessions. The price of concessions already been seen as optional when someone could go to dinner before or after the movie, or wait for a discount with their rewards program. 

I do feel that some buckets will go viral due to shock value, questionable design and sometimes comedic status differing from bucket to bucket. Some buckets can be laughed at because of how little or how much detail go into them. The ability to make a bucket which is a product into a meme that someone could go out and purchase and then put into their content is one reason to purchase these specialty buckets. I have seen videos, shorts, even tik toks whether they be sketches or just showing off specialty buckets and ranking them. That is another way these buckets stay in the public eye where the design can raise enough of a stir to be made into a meme, make someone laugh, or even end up as an SNL sketch. Thus making it almost a form of marketing to get people talking about the bucket and the film. 

I love seeing different ones for movies, and perhaps I will pick up some for movies that I enjoy if they become by being sold at my local theater and being in stock. Some movies have moved into other products such as blankets, pillows, cups, and so on, that I might cover in the future. The popcorn buckets, and movie products fascinate me, even though I rarely purchase them, they are fun to see shorts, tik toks, articles, and reveals of, and compare which theater chain has which bucket. It leads to a way to discuss a film via product rather then the film itself, and how well it reflects it. Some may be considered cool, others forgettable, even building hype for a movie before it releases. I just find it fun, and I may even explore this topic, further sometime.