How crazy popcorn buckets became big business for movie theaters

For many years, popcorn has been a staple of the movie theater expertise and exhibitors’ backside traces. Now, the receptacle it is available in is turning into simply as vital.

As not too long ago as three years in the past, AMC Leisure did not promote any merchandise. Final yr it hawked novelty popcorn buckets, drink sippers and T-shirts to the tune of about $65 million in income.

“It began with us in a big manner with our personal movie, ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,’ that we launched in October of 2023 and we bought simply an unimaginable variety of popcorn buckets,” mentioned AMC CEO Adam Aron. “That sparked us to do it nearly on a regular basis … simply actually each month.”

Different theater chains like Cinemark, Marcus, Regal and B&B Theatres have additionally embraced popcorn buckets, utilizing these specialty objects to drive concession purchases, create a way of urgency to see big motion pictures on opening weekend and add worth to the theatrical expertise.

“Publish-Covid, we realized that the eventizing of cinema has by no means actually been as vital as it’s now,” mentioned Paul Farnsworth, government director of communication and content material at B&B Theatres. “We acknowledged throughout that point that the best casualty for our business was individuals simply fell out of the behavior of going to motion pictures.”

Hollywood manufacturing points led to fewer theatrical releases and smaller ticket gross sales in 2024, with field workplace receipts down 3.4% from 2023 to $8.74 billion. Farnsworth famous that distinctive popcorn buckets can add worth to a buyer’s journey to the films and creates a reminiscence of the journey that may be taken dwelling, propped up on a show shelf or repurposed for movie nights in.

“It is extremely good for the underside line,” he mentioned. “The big worth for us is that folks are available and there is these enjoyable issues they get to take dwelling they usually’re taking footage with them within the theater. There’s immense worth in that.”

For Cinemark, the proof of idea got here with the discharge of “Scream VI” in 2023.

“We made a ‘Scream’ popcorn bucket and it fully caught us unexpectedly,” mentioned Sean Gamble, CEO of Cinemark. “This factor simply had this big uptake. We bought out of the factor instantly and we have been principally promoting them to individuals on-line afterwards.”

Commemorative popcorn buckets have lengthy been part of theme park merchandising, driving income of the likes of Disney and Common each domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, U.S.-based movie theaters have been late to undertake the pattern.

Advertising and merchandise firm Zinc has been designing and manufacturing branded popcorn buckets and drink sippers for over a decade internationally, however turned its consideration stateside in 2016.

“Theaters have been reticent as a result of the cups did not match within the holders,” mentioned Rod Mason, vp of business improvement at Zinc Group, one of many greatest gamers within the premium popcorn area.

A shift got here in 2019 with an R2-D2 popcorn bucket created for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” Mason mentioned.

“AMC took a punt on it,” he defined. “They took a number of tens of hundreds of items. They bought via it in about three or 4 days at an extremely excessive value. Nothing like that had ever been accomplished earlier than, and it was like ‘OK, effectively, this works.'”

A revamped model of the droid popcorn bucket was re-released for the twenty fifth anniversary screenings of “Star Wars: Episode 1 — A Phantom Menace.”

The popcorn bucket and drink cup combo bought for $49.99.

Nevertheless, the true watershed second for the area of interest market got here practically 5 years later with a now-infamous popcorn bucket in honor of “Dune: Half Two,” launched in final March. The bucket was modeled after the sandworms featured within the movie however impressed crude comparisons to an grownup product.

“The fantastic thing about the ‘Dune’ bucket was it simply wasn’t meant to be viral,” Mason mentioned.

The $24.99 bucket bought out and located momentum on secondary markets. Receipts from eBay present these popcorn buckets bought for between $50 and $210 apiece on the reseller website.

“The recognition of the popcorn buckets on social media mixed with the notion of restricted provide of the popcorn buckets results in a sense of ‘worry of lacking out’ amongst customers who’re pushed to purchase the buckets when [they] see them accessible,” mentioned Lindsay Brookshier, content material director at on-line Disney information MickeyVist.com.

The “Dune” bucket impressed “Deadpool & Wolverine” actor and producer Ryan Reynolds to design a cheeky popcorn bucket for the discharge of his movie.

“Years from now they’ll look again at 2024 as when the Struggle of the Popcorn Buckets started,” Reynolds wrote on X to advertise the concession container, which was formed like Wolverine’s head with its mouth extensive open to accommodate the popcorn.

The $29.99 bucket was solely accessible at AMC and was launched the identical weekend as San Diego Comedian-Con and the “Deadpool & Wolverine” movie launch.

Studios and theaters have been extra proactive about working with firms like Zinc to create distinctive popcorn buckets for moviegoers.

“It is a very aggressive business,” mentioned Mason. “Everyone seems to be making an attempt to outdo, and never simply the businesses like us, but additionally the businesses which can be shopping for it. They’re making an attempt to make it possible for they’ve the good merchandise … that competitors has been magnified over the past 12 months as a result of there’s so many eyes on this section of the business.”

And the movie business is about to have an inflow of blockbuster titles now that manufacturing delays from the pandemic and twin Hollywood strikes are within the rearview mirror.

Following “Captain America: Courageous New World,” which debuted Friday, the 2025 calendar has “Thunderbolts*,” ” Mission: Inconceivable: The Closing Reckoning,” “How to Prepare Your Dragon,” “Jurassic World Rebirth,” “Superman,” “Implausible 4: First Steps,” “Depraved: For Good,” “Zootopia 2,” and “Avatar: Fireplace and Ash.”

And 2026 has equally promising tie-ins for popcorn buckets with a “Tremendous Mario Bros.” sequel, “Avengers: Doomsday,” “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Toy Story 5,” “Supergirl: Lady of Tomorrow,” “Minions 3,” “Starvation Video games: Dawn on the Reaping,” “Ice Age 6” and “Shrek 5.”

“We have missed out on a pair,” B&B’s Farnsworth mentioned. “We did not have that crazy ‘Dune’ one. However that was type of one of many hinge factors for us. It was like, ‘Alright, we actually have to concentrate.'”

B&B, the fifth-largest cinema chain in America with 58 places, nonetheless must be very intentional about which merchandise it presents and what number of it purchases. Movies like “Depraved,” with a large built-in viewers craving merchandise, are a safer guess. However theaters have a really quick window to promote the specialty objects.

“Not like our regular popcorn baggage, that are evergreen, in case you do not promote the [product], you are most likely not going to promote them a month after the movie,” Farnsworth mentioned.

In the meantime, AMC is investing extra closely.

“One of many big issues that we’re doing in 2025 is we’re considerably growing the portions,” Aron mentioned, noting that AMC was already inserting orders for 100,000 models or extra. “We’re shopping for, as a result of there is no want for us to promote out on opening day. There’s loads of individuals coming to see that movie for weeks and weeks.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the father or mother firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC.