If you thought the sandworm popcorn bucket for Dune: Part Two was outrageous, just wait until you see what Marvel has cooked up for Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds has pulled back the curtain on the film’s officially licensed popcorn bucket, and it’s…certainly a creative choice.
The bucket, modeled after Wolverine’s iconic masked head, features an agape mouth cavity intended for storing popcorn or other movie snacks. In a video posted to social media, Reynolds presents the bucket in dramatic slow-motion, scored to the iconic opening strains of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
As the camera lovingly caresses the plastic contours of Wolverine’s face, a stream of popcorn cascades into the open maw from above. Just when you think it can’t get any more gratuitous, a glistening drizzle of melted butter rains down into the popcorn-filled orifice.
It’s an intentionally crass bit of cross-promotion, very much in keeping with the irreverent spirit of the Deadpool franchise. But it also serves as an escalation in the arms race of quirky, attention-grabbing movie theater snack receptacles.
The sandworm bucket for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune sequel became a viral phenomenon and pop culture punchline earlier this year. AMC Theatres struggled to keep them in stock amidst overwhelming demand from fans eager to consume snacks from the gaping maw of Arrakis’ mighty desert leviathans.
Even Saturday Night Live got in on the action with a sketch mocking the inherent ridiculousness of the buckets’ phallic design. AMC’s CEO later dismissed the bit as subpar satire in an interview with Variety.
Now Deadpool & Wolverine has doubled down on the juvenile snack holder antics. It remains to be seen which theater chains will offer the Wolverine head vessel and at what price point. But one thing is certain – the popcorn bucket madness shows no signs of abating.
Some may find the buckets puerile and in poor taste. But they’ve undeniably captured public attention and gotten folks talking well in advance of the films’ releases. In an age of ubiquitous corporate IP and sequel fatigue, perhaps a little juvenile humor is exactly what moviegoers crave alongside their overpriced snacks.
Deadpool & Wolverine, which reunites Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the Marvel universe for the first time, roars into theaters on July 26th. Brace yourself for a veritable tsunami of tongue-in-cheek marketing between now and then.
