I’m deeply disturbed by the weird popcorn bucket design trend

For reasons unbeknownst to me, the internet has developed an obsession with something completely unexpected – popcorn buckets. It started back in February with a promotional popcorn receptacle for Dune: Part Two that garnered a mixed (and hilarious) response from fans for its ‘suggestive’ appearance. Since then, marketing teams have been keen to one-up the controversial design, amping up the absurdity for a kernel of coveted virality. 

It can be a tricky task to master the art of packaging design, but rarely would I say that a scandalous approach is the key to success. Regretfully, I have to hold my tongue, as not only are the recent slew of bizarre buckets wholly memorable, but a genius (albeit slightly ridiculous) marketing strategy. 

Cast your mind back to early February – the Dune 2 hype was hotting up and out comes an innocuous popcorn bucket fashioned to look like a sandworm – innocent right? Not in the eyes of the internet, obviously. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but let’s just say there were some rather inventive NSFW comparisons to a certain sexual accessory. 

Scandalous stuff, but for some reason it worked. The Dune 2 popcorn bucket became a viral sensation, inadvertently promoting the film in one of the most unconventionally successful ways I’ve seen in recent years. 

In came Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire with its own popcorn bucket design. While it was thankfully less salacious than the ‘sandworm’, it garnered its own controversy when fans were ‘catfished’ upon receiving their orders. The Slimer-inspired bucket launched by AMC as part of its Frozen Empire collection originally showcased a film-accurate translucent design, but what arrived for many fans was a shambolic parody-worthy plastic monstrosity. 

AMC slimer popcorn bucket from r/ghostbusters

However, some marketing teams went full throttle with the suggestive design, most notably the masterminds behind the official Deadpool & Wolverine design. In a video shared to X, lead actor Ryan Reynolds captioned the steamy bucket debut: “Years from now they will look back at 2024 as the year the War of the Popcorn Buckets began.”

The hilarious parody features slow-motion shots of the popcorn bucket (shaped like Wolverine’s head) accompanied by dramatic music. The video crescendos when Wolverine’s face is dripped with a buttery glaze before the camera slowly pans out, revealing a rough scrawl on the side of the bucket that reads “Designed by Deadpool”.

I’m silently praying that the aforementioned “War of the Popcorn Buckets” is a marketing trend that we continue to see across the blockbuster summer. With releases like Venom: The Last Dance and Mufasa: The Lion King set to hit the big screens soon, there’s plenty of potential for some bizarre and creative new designs to satisfy our cravings – Nosferatu popcorn bucket anyone? 

For more film news, check out the new Alien Romulus poster that’s suffocatingly brilliant. If you’re after more bizarre design, take a look at these terrible X-Men posters that we can’t believe got approved.