Barbie Popcorn Buckets are Part of a New Reselling Trend

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By RC Staff

08 July 2023

Have you got your tickets for the Barbie movie yet? If not, you might want to start. Not only will it be the cinematic event of the season, there’s also an opportunity for you to make some easy cash. Limited edition promotional popcorn buckets are a bit of new trend at movie theaters, and different films have different designs. Barbie’s is looking to be very cool, very popular, and very profitable, which is why we recommend calling nearby theaters ahead of time and loading up on as many buckets as you can carry.

Collectible Barbie Popcorn Bucket

While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen promotional popcorn buckets, it’s likely going to be the biggest. There’s a long history of films sending silly bits of collectible merchandise to theaters to be sold in the lobby. Typically, these have just been branded cups and lids, produced in mass quantities and not very notable.

Recently, a new trend has emerged. High quality, bespoke and collectible popcorn buckets, produced specifically for new movies. Rather than the cheap plastic schlock of years past, these recent buckets are slightly more expensive plastic, with fun designs that don’t just look like a bucket.

For the Barbie movie, that popcorn bucket is looking to be very cool indeed, probably because it’s not very bucket-shaped. In fact, it’s a car. With working wheels. The Barbie popcorn bucket is based on the ultra-pink Corvette seen in the film, just what comes to mind when you hear the word “popcorn”.

@amctheatres

#BarbieTheMovie 🍿vessel?!? 🤔

♬ original sound – Warner Bros. Movies

Now, we should mention that this is AMC’s merchandise for the Barbie movie; you won’t find it at other theaters. Cinemark is also offering Barbie-themed merch, but no popcorn buckets. Considering that that’s what’s trending right now, we’ll be focused on AMC’s bucket for now.

How to get an AMC Barbie Popcorn Bucket

These buckets are not available for sale just yet. Typically, they are sold in lobbies at showings of the film. It’s not required that you get popcorn with one, and many collectors prefer not to. When Barbie hits theaters on July 21, so will the buckets. Generally speaking, merchandise like these buckets are not available online, but anything can happen.

If you want to buy an AMC Barbie popcorn bucket, it would be a good idea to call an AMC theater near you ahead of time to make sure they have them. There’s no guarantee any particular theater will carry the buckets, so calling ahead would be the best way to avoid wasting your time.

The AMC Barbie popcorn bucket will cost $25 from the theater, popcorn included. You may want to ask for a separate receptacle to carry your popcorn in though, and keep the butter out of the car.

Will Barbie Popcorn Buckets Resell?

An astute question. Any time you put your money towards buying an item to flip, you should always ask if someone out there is actually going to pay for it. It won’t be several weeks until these buckets actually become available to buy, but we do believe the Barbie popcorn buckets will resell quite well.

Buckets from recent movies have sold on eBay for some pretty ludicrous prices. It’s because of these and the recent trend of theaters offering them as merchandise that the Barbie buckets are on our radar to begin with.

Here are some examples of recent popcorn buckets that have resold:

The Little Mermaid Popcorn Bucket

These popcorn buckets were sold at AMC theaters after the premiere of The Little Mermaid in May. While they might look simple, they had a couple cool features. The walls of the bucket itself are translucent, and there is a light mounted in the base to make the whole thing glow. Here’s an extremely obnoxious video to show how worked up some people got by these buckets.

As you might imagine, that kind of excitement can translate to some seriously stupid prices on the aftermarket. The Little Mermaid popcorn buckets cost $25 from AMC, and would resell for around $100 per bucket.

Dial of Destiny Popcorn Bucket and Cup

While this movie isn’t exactly killing it at the box office, people do seem to like the merchandise. If you saw Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at a Cinemark theater, you could buy one of these buckets and accompanying fedora cup for $15.

Afterwards, Dial of Destiny popcorn buckets and cups resell for around $50 bundled together.

Dungeons & Dragons D20 Popcorn Bucket

This is probably the most notable piece of merchandise related to a movie from the last few years. The D&D movie came out in March 2023 to fairly positive reviews, and was well received by audiences. AMC theaters sold a special D20 shaped popcorn bucket for the film, which was extremely popular.

The D20 popcorn bucket sold for $35 at AMC theaters, but would go on to resell for upwards of $200. While it’s theoretically usable as both a popcorn bucket and a die, most collectors will probably prefer to stick it on the shelf.

Will there be an Oppenheimer Popcorn Bucket?

Maybe you’ve already seem one of the many memes about it, but there is a running joke that Oppenheimer will get a special AMC popcorn bucket. Numerous fake images and designs have been created for the theoretical Oppenheimer popcorn bucket.

Given the movie’s subject matter and tone, making a gimmicky piece of merchandise like this might be considered to be in bad taste. We have no idea if AMC or Cinemark will actually make an official popcorn bucket, but the odds are low.

For now, we recommend sticking to the Barbie movie when it comes to reselling popcorn buckets. Both Barbie and Oppenheimer hit theaters the same day, so you even if you don’t watch the movie at the theater you can still pick up a bucket to resell afterwards.

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