All the Wildest Movie-Themed Popcorn Buckets from 2024 That We Can't Believe Are Real

Mar. 15, 2025

Deadpool & Wolverine and Dune: Part Two AMC Theatres popcorn buckets.Photo:Ryan Reynolds/YouTube; AMC Theatres

Ryan Reynolds/YouTube; AMC Theatres

Popcorn buckets will never be the same after 2024.

The collectibles rose to a whole new level this year with the eye-catching merchandise for fans to chow down with during blockbusters likeDune: Part TwoandDeadpool & Wolverinegoing viral and one-upping each other.

“Years from now they will look back at 2024 asthe year the War of the Popcorn Buckets began,” Ryan Reynolds wrote on Instagram in May.

Read along for a breakdown of 2024’s most interesting (and downright bizarre!) popcorn buckets offered in movie theaters.

Dune: Part Two

While March’sDune: Part Twodid not invent the popcorn bucket trend, AMC Theatres made it a viral phenomenon when it introduced one designed to resemble the fictional planet Arrakis' iconic spaceworms. The bucketgenerated conversation on social mediafor its unorthodox, arguably NSFW design, as well asDune’s own stars and director’s amusing reactions to the bucket.

“That’s not okay,“Florence Pughsaid, when she and theDunecast appeared onJimmy Kimmel Livein February and were shown the bucket. “Who made that? That’s not okay. That’s wrong.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s sandwormalso got its own bucket at Regal Cinemas, though it looked much different from itsDunecounterpart.

Deadpool & Wolverine

Ryan ReynoldsandHugh Jackmanmade one of the most popular movies of 2024 withDeadpool & Wolverine, which brought their popular Marvel characters together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Reynolds, 48, helped announced the movie’s special popcorn bucket — designed as the character Wolverine’s head, with popcorn spilling out of the his wide-open mouth — with anInstagram videoshared May 30 that included a reference to the popularity of other popcorn buckets throughout the year.

Venom: The Last Dance

Regal Cinemas had a Venom-shaped popcorn bucket to celebrate October’sVenom: The Last Dance, the final movie inTom Hardy’s offshoot of theSpider-Manvillain. The chain surprised the film’s cast with the large popcorn bucket — which holds popcorn inside of Venom’s mouth — on the red carpet in a video it shared on Instagram Oct. 22.

Chiwetel Ejiofor,Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham costarred with Hardy, 47, in the thirdVenomfilm.

Wicked

AMC Theatres gotWickedinto the popcorn and concessions game with matching pink-and-green buckets and soda cups for Glinda and Elphaba fans. The theater chain also developed limited-edition “Magnificent Mix gourmet” candy-coated pink-and-green popcorn for audience members who wanted their movie snacks as colorful as Shiz University and the land of Oz.

Regal also had souvenir Lantern Popcorn Containers andWitch Hat Cups.

The hit musical starsAriana Grande,Cynthia Erivo,Ethan Slater,Michelle Yeoh,Jonathan Bailey,Marissa Bode,Jeff Goldblumand more.

Moana 2

For Disney’sMoana2,Regal impressed with a popcorn bucket shaped like a wave that displays Moana herself connecting with the ocean.

Moanafans could also collect a boat designed to look like the ones Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) and Maui (Dwayne Johnson) ride thatalso doubled as a container for nachos, combining for two of the more creative concessions items offered this year.

Gladiator II

Roman architecture and popcorn collided when the long-awaited sequelGladiator IIdebuted. Cinemark offered a large tub shaped like the ancient Colosseum,complete with an augmented reality codeto view a battle take place inside it.

Buckets fromRegal let fans eat snacks directlyout of a gladiator helmet.

Gladiator IIstarsPaul Mescalas Lucius as he is brought captive back to Rome and unwittingly finds himself in the middle of a power struggle for the empire’s future.Denzel Washington,Pedro Pascal,Joseph Quinn,Connie NielsenandFred Hechingeralso star.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Audiences returned to Middle-earth in the animated prequelThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. AMC andRegal Cinemasboth launched popcorn buckets shaped like a giant hammer, which matches the weapon the movie’s character Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) wields in battle.

Aside from Cox, 78,The War of the Rohirrimalso featured a voice cast that included Gaia Wise, Miranda Otto, Luke Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna and Janine Duvitski.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Video game fans who wanted to eat popcorn right out of Sonic the Hedgehog’s head got their wish thanks toAMCTheatres andRegalin time forSonic the Hedgehog 3.The vessel itself is shaped as the iconic blue character’s head, with a lid on top revealing the popcorn inside.

Cinemark also had a tubwith the popular character hugging the popcorn.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3brings back Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, while Idris Elba portrays Knuckles, Keanu Reeves voices Shadow, andJim Carreyreprised his role as the series' villain Dr. Robotnik.

Mufasa: The Lion King

Regal and AMC Theatres had competing visions for aMufasa: The Lion King-themed popcorn bucket. AMC released alight-up popcorn bucketthat features engravings of lions and other animals audiences have come to expect inThe Lion Kingmovies, while Regal released a bucket that isactually shaped like Pride Rock itself.

The latter’s bucket holds popcorn from the top of Pride Rock, while the lion Mufasa is depicted with a figurine that stands on his throne.

The Disney prequel featured the voices ofAaron Pierre,Kelvin Harrison Jr, Tiffany Boone,Mads MikkelsenandThandiwe Newton;Donald Glover,Seth Rogen,Billy Eichner,John KaniandBeyoncéeach reprised their voice roles from 2019’sThe Lion King, while Beyoncé’s daughterBlue Ivy Cartermade her feature film debut as the lion cub Kiara.

Nosferatu

Popcorn buckets got straight up spooky withNosferatu’s Christmas Day release. The movie, a remake of the iconic 1922 German silent film, received a bucket built to resemble the sarcophagus that vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) sleeps inside.

Horror fans can chow down on popcorn from inside the coffin while watching Orlok hauntLily-Rose Depp,Willem Dafoe,Nicholas Hoult,Aaron Taylor-JohnsonandEmma CorrininNosferatu, the latest from directorRobert Eggers.

source: people.com