Craving Movie Theater Butter?
Going to the movies is a mission these days.
People have grown accustomed to a plushy cinematic experience at home, which often includes cozy pajamas, a comfy couch, a fully-stocked fridge, 72” screens, surround sound, and a convenient pause feature to use the bathroom whenever they please. These excessive comfort levels leave many moviegoers wondering: What’s the allure of going out to see a movie anymore?
Cinephiles bark about an expensive sound system, nuanced visual effects of physical film projection, and the perfect mid-theater seat that Steven Spielberg himself would have chosen for the optimal movie-watching experience. However, to the average viewer, those things are too niche and ultimately a moot point. Going to the theater used to be incredibly social, affordable, and was sometimes an affair of the arts. Now, watching a movie is a means to an entertaining end, best enjoyed while wearing PJs.
While there’s not much to tempt people to go to the movies anymore, there is one thing that the theaters have that the at-home experience could never replicate: A branded and collectible snack vessel.
Civilians can’t just go out and buy that strange, yellow “butter product” that they slather on their popcorn. As unnatural as it seems, movie-goers crave that disgusting liquid butter, and it’s oftentimes what sets movie theaters apart from the at-home competition.
Admit it, we all yearn for the movie theater popcorn.
Movie marketers have amplified that popcorn desire with another irresistible affinity by turning popcorn buckets into a collector’s item. Audiences will do just about anything, including uprooting themselves from the comfort of their homes, for the chance to buy a gimmicky, 3D-printed, often ghastly popcorn bucket (while supplies last, of course). The products are stupid, silly, and impractical, but we must have it.
Via u/PopBase
From Snack Shack to Knick Knack
Like most collectible knick knacks, the popcorn buckets are useless outside of the theater. Still, the novelty and limited edition merchandising has made the memento buckets irresistible.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Gimmicky memorabilia, novelty items, and limited-edition oddities have always caught the attention of voracious movie fans seeking souvenirs, often manifesting as collectible movie posters, figurines, or t-shirts. Despite the people’s apparent passion for merch, nobody could have foreseen that the gimmicks and goofy gags would be enough to save the entire movie theater industry by driving up ticket sales. Vanity Fair journalist, Ralph Jones, says, “Popcorn buckets won’t single-handedly save movies, but they have become an unlikely oasis in the desert for a beleaguered industry.”
Cinephiles recoil, for it isn’t the cinematic masterpieces or the artistry that are reigniting a passion for an afternoon at the movies. It’s a silly, obtusely themed popcorn bucket that’s drawing the crowds.
M3GAN 2.0 Popcorn Bucket
Via AMC and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Although they’re only mere snack vessels, Jones says that the buckets are a small piece of a bigger picture, creating a richer experience for consumers considering heading to the theater. In the same way that McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and free Koozie’s from Comicon spark joy with those who collect them, the popcorn buckets have created an unexpected frenzy and commotion surrounding the movie-going experience.
Likewise, movie theaters themselves have become thrilling again.
One of the first viral popcorn bucket sensations was created for the release of Dune 2, and to say that the buckets were unsightly is an understatement. Because of their grotesque appearance and suggestive shape, the Dune popcorn buckets became a sensation of their own, taking over social media feeds, podcast discussions, and even SNL skits. While the movie itself was a stand-alone Hollywood hit, some attribute the movie’s opening weekend success to the intense virality and chaotic mayhem surrounding the acquisition of a popcorn bucket. Earning over $500M in the opening weekend and selling out of popcorn buckets in the blink of an eye. AMC and Cinematix’s snack executives probably wrung their hands with glee, feeling like they cracked the code to a once-sinking ship.
And with a resale value exceeding $350 on eBay, who can argue with supply and demand? People actually want this.
The success of the Dune popcorn buckets set off a chain reaction, becoming the new “it” thing, the must-have merch for any A-list movie. Not only that, but the buckets gave merchandisers a chance to be weird and creative, because the concept itself began as an oddity. It’s that weirdness and novelty factor that’s keeping the buckets, and therefore the entire movie-going experience, exciting and fresh.
Kung Fu Panda 4 Popcorn Bucket
Via Dreamworks and Kotaku
A Vessel of Opportunity
Popcorn buckets are not a long-term answer to the movie theater industry crash, but they’ve put a sizable bandaid on a decade-long problem. Appealing to the souvenir slingers, tchotchke collectors, and novelty chasers, themed popcorn buckets have permeated the culture of the movie-going experience and will likely remain a legendary trademark of movies in the 2020s.
Hopefully, the novelty popcorn industry will continue to boom, providing a plethora of laughs and cringe moments for all of us who enjoy going to the movies. Much to the chagrin of eager collectors, novelty popcorn buckets are becoming far more popular and valuable than their dusty Beanie Babies and Labubu’s.
As long as the movie industry remains in the limited edition loop, there will be tickets to sell and popcorn buckets to sling. As slippery, elusive, and delicious as movie theater butter, the movie-going experience lives to fight another day thanks to some truly venturesome vessels.
