How Theme Park Snack Culture Influenced the Movie Theater Popcorn Bucket Craze

Popcorn buckets are becoming must-have toy collectibles, and this plot twist of trends comes from the unhinged virality of containers that evoke pop culture icons and hold tasty snacks. As a theme park nerd, I saw it unfold as Disney Parks’ snack of choice went from the general cylindrical plastic bucket to Mickey Mouse-shaped holiday containers.

As is common in the age of social media, the buckets became coveted souvenirs—and like many sought-after collectibles, scalpers soon got into the game to sell them online. The demand was met with more franchise characters; suddenly you could get a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet or a Jack Skellington head or a Cinderella carriage to fill with buttery popped kernel delights.

So it’s no surprise that movie theaters, the original purveyors of concession cuisine, got into the popcorn bucket arms race and produced that Dune sandworm container cultural moment. Even years after the pandemic, theater chains have struggled. One-third of the revenue cinemas depend on comes from concessions that have had ever-rising prices. It’s really ingenious to combat people rebuffing a paper bucket of popcorn for $12 with the enticement of a limited-edition open mouth Wolverine popcorn bucket for $30. And then with the scalper market still hot as ever, that hilariously marketed Deadpool & Wolverine product is now going for up to $100 on third party re-sellers.

Yeah, it got that serious once simple recreations of artifacts from the movie or characters were turned into gimmicks. The theme parks had long crossed over to the bonkers realm, most notably with the Thanos Infinity Gauntlet drink holder and the Iron Man Avengers: Endgame variant. Disney influencers flocked to attain them first and show them off on their platforms. Star Wars fans were similarly courted, and the snack container wars began. Naturally movie theaters have continued to present new popcorn buckets and drink tumblers with each new blockbuster—but so far, nobody has bested the cursed Dune popcorn bucket.

That doesn’t mean companies won’t keep trying. A few weeks ago we attended Disneyland’s media preview for its 70th Anniversary and there we met the interactive Mickey popcorn bucket that responds when you speak to it. You fill it with popcorn and say “Hey Mickey” and it will blink and move its head side to side with one of many responses, while in your mind, the Terminator theme plays rhythmically. The buckets are now robo-toys and it really makes their role in the foodie fandom even more questionable.

Are we sacrificing practical and cool containers for just a bulky toy with a hollowed-out area? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve bought my share of buckets but I do try to pick utility over looks. The current waste bin in my family car is the Ghostbusters ghost trap from AMC Theaters; it traps the trash and has a handle that makes it easy to dump the contents into the recycling bin. That’s all I need it to do: either hold popcorn or recyclables that accumulate in the car. That’s just my personal taste in the matter.

Sure, I get the appeal of the campy containers. I’m mightily tempted by the Jaws sipper that just launched at Universal Studios. It’s a plastic shark crossbody with the scuba tank in its mouth—a statement-making way to keep your soda handy as you wander the park. It’s ridiculous but so tempting.

So if you manage to secure the snack goods and get a cool toy from your pop culture fandom, what’s really the big deal? AMC is set to release a HERBIE 3-in-1 for Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It’s a replica of the Richards family’s trusty robot companion, which will feature various compartments for popcorn, candy, and soda (astoundingly the sipper is the head). Who knows how the theme parks will respond in kind—but we’re excited to see a whole new level of weirdness as the snack game evolves.

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