The curious rise of novelty popcorn buckets (Encore)

Summary

The Curious Rise of Novelty Popcorn Buckets (Encore)
The Indicator from Planet Money, NPR
Released on December 31, 2024

---

Introduction

In the latest encore episode of The Indicator from Planet Money, NPR delves into the innovative strategies movie theaters are adopting to navigate the challenging landscape of declining box office revenues. Hosted by Waylon Wong and Adrienne Matt, the episode titled "The Curious Rise of Novelty Popcorn Buckets" explores how theaters are leveraging collectible popcorn containers as a novel revenue stream amidst industry uncertainties.

Declining Movie Attendance and Industry Challenges

Waylon Wong opens the discussion by highlighting a concerning trend: movie attendance has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, leading to underwhelming box office performances for several major releases. This downturn is exacerbated by the lingering effects of last year's Hollywood labor strikes, which have reduced the number of new films entering the market.

[00:27] Adrienne Matt: "There's something unsettling happening at the movie theaters lately."

The hosts emphasize that these factors have collectively created a precarious situation for Hollywood, necessitating innovative solutions to sustain profitability.

Emergence of Novelty Popcorn Buckets

Amidst these challenges, movie theater chains like AMC are turning to a unique merchandising strategy: the introduction of novelty popcorn buckets. These are not your typical disposable containers; instead, they are solid, often plastic, collectible items themed around popular movie franchises.

[03:53] Adrienne Matt: "These are souvenir popcorn buckets as tie-ins with major releases."

Nell Storm, AMC's Vice President of Food and Beverage Strategy and a classically trained French chef, explains that these buckets are designed to be more than just functional—they are intended to be coveted movie props that enhance the theater-going experience.

[04:28] Nell Storm: "We're designing popcorn into a really cool prop. In many cases, we want our guests to see this piece in our social feed and just run, not walk to the theater to get it."

Design and Strategy Behind the Buckets

The design philosophy behind these novelty buckets focuses on aligning with the aesthetics and themes of blockbuster films. For instance, AMC released a hot pink Corvette convertible-shaped bucket for the Barbie movie, which garnered significant attention and even inspired a song by Saturday Night Live.

[04:06] Waylon Wong: "In the shape of something related to the movie, like a hot pink Corvette convertible in the case of last year's Barbie movie."

Nell Storm emphasizes the importance of timed releases, aiming to sell out merchandise during a film's opening weekend to capitalize on the heightened excitement and prevent leftover inventory when the next big release arrives.

[04:45] Adrienne Matt: "AMC aims to sell out of the buckets during the film's first weekend. That maximizes the hype around the release, and it ensures theaters aren't stuck with a whole inventory of unsold buckets when the next blockbuster lands."

Market Performance and Collectibility

Since their inception, these novelty buckets have had varying levels of success. AMC's first significant foray was with an Star Wars themed R2D2 bucket in 2019, which sold out on opening night. However, disruptions like the pandemic have delayed subsequent releases.

[05:11] Waylon Wong: "AMC's first big popcorn bucket was for Star the Rise of Skywalker... they sold out opening night."

As theaters release more buckets tied to different movies, they are becoming integral to the competitive landscape, offering an additional appeal to discerning moviegoers.

Secondary Market and Reselling

The introduction of collectible popcorn buckets has spurred a secondary market where resellers flip these items for profit. Marcus Vasso, a reseller with his company Bucket Bandits, shares his experience of purchasing and selling these buckets at significant markups.

[08:03] Marcus Vasso: "My name is Marcus Vasso... I'm a reseller on eBay with the company I created called Bucket Bandits."

He recounts how initial investments quickly turned profitable, with some buckets fetching prices up to $99 on platforms like eBay. This burgeoning resale economy underscores the pent-up demand for unique movie memorabilia.

[08:20] Marcus Vasso: "And like, in three days, he brought me back, like $300. I was like, wait, what? What just happened?"

However, the resale market is volatile; the selling window is narrow, and tanks if a movie underperforms, as exemplified by the lukewarm reception of the latest Garfield movie.

[09:03] Marcus Vasso: "It went viral. So we kind of got that world audience... but the selling window for these buckets is short."

Future Plans for Movie Theater Merchandising

Looking ahead, AMC plans to expand its merchandise offerings beyond popcorn buckets. Nell Storm reveals intentions to install hundreds of souvenir kiosks across AMC locations, offering a variety of collectibles such as keychains and posters. Additionally, there's potential to create popcorn buckets for theatrical re-releases of classic films, provided studio collaborations are secured.

[09:31] Nell Storm: "We believe it was going to be something huge. And then, of course, the world stopped turning and we had to take a pause."

Addressing potential collaborations, Nell expresses enthusiasm for creating themed merchandise aligned with beloved classics.

[10:02] Nell Storm: "If we re-release Caddyshack, you can bet we'd have gophers and golf bags and all the fun things happening. 100%."

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a reflection on the evolving strategies of movie theaters to adapt to a changing entertainment landscape. By transforming simple concession items into coveted collectibles, theaters like AMC are not only diversifying their revenue streams but also deepening their engagement with movie enthusiasts. As the industry continues to navigate recovery from unprecedented challenges, such innovations may prove pivotal in redefining the cinema experience.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Adrienne Matt [00:27]: "There's something unsettling happening at the movie theaters lately."
• Nell Storm [04:28]: "We're designing popcorn into a really cool prop."
• Marcus Vasso [08:03]: "I'm a reseller on eBay with the company I created called Bucket Bandits."
• Nell Storm [10:02]: "If we re-release Caddyshack, you can bet we'd have gophers and golf bags and all the fun things happening. 100%."

---

Produced by Cooper Katz McKim and Julia Ritchie with engineering by Robert Rodriguez. Fact-checked by Cierra Juarez and Cake. Edited by Cannon. The Indicator is a production of NPR.

Transcript

[Waylon Wong]

This week we are running some of our favorite episodes from 2024. On today's show, we look at how movie theaters are turning to a unique source for extra income, the novelty popcorn bucket.

[NPR]

NPR.

[Adrienne Matt]

There'S something unsettling happening at the movie theaters lately.

[NPR]

I have a bad feeling about this.

[Waylon Wong]

People aren't going to the movies like they to. Box office numbers are way down from their pre pandemic levels. Some of the summer's big releases didn't do as well as expected.

[Marcus Vasso]

I could have been a contender.

[Adrienne Matt]

On top of that, last year's Hollywood labor strikes mean there are fewer movies in the pipeline than normal.

[Nell Storm]

Sheriff this is no time to panic. This is the perfect time to panic.

[Waylon Wong]

These famous film characters are upset. But out of these dark, uncertain times for Hollywood, a possible hero is emerging. Something that movie theater chains are hoping will get more dollars flowing into local megaplexes. This potential savior, a novelty popcorn bucket.

[Adrienne Matt]

That is right. Maybe you've seen the infamous Sandworm bucket that was released for the Dune Part 2 movie this spring. Saturday Night Live actually did a whole song about it.

[Marcus Vasso]

Just want that dune popcorn bucket. Bucket.

[Waylon Wong]

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong.

[Adrienne Matt]

And I'm Adrienne Matt. Movie theaters make most of their money by selling two things, movie tickets and food. Now they're getting into the business of collectible merchandise.

[Waylon Wong]

Today on the show, we track the rise of the popcorn bucket from its pre pandemic origins to its afterlife in the resale market.

[Capella University]

This message comes from Capella University. With Capella's Flexpath learning format, you can set your own deadlines and learn on your schedule. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn [e-mail].

[NPR]

This message comes from NPR sponsor Merrill. Whatever your financial goals are, you want a straightforward path there. But the real world doesn't usually work that way. Merrill understands that. That's why with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Go to ML.combullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated. Registered Broker Dealer Registered Investment Advisor Member.

[Capella University]

SIPC this message comes from NPR sponsor Mint Mobile. Discovering that Mint Mobile has unlimited talk, text and Data plans for $15 a month. When you purchase a three month plan is kind of like discovering a new binge worthy show. You can't keep it to yourself. Please don't. To get this new customer offer, go to mintmobile.com indicator $45 a month upfront payment required for first three month plan only. Speeds slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Adrienne Matt]

Nels Storm is a classically trained French chef, but these days he's not making bouillabaises and cassoulets because, I mean, for starters, those things might be kind of hard to serve in a movie theater. And Nel' cares a lot about that because he's actually vice president of food and beverage strategy for AMC theaters.

[Nell Storm]

So things like an overstuffed burrito present challenges.

[Waylon Wong]

A chopped salad, very difficult to eat at the movies.

[Nell Storm]

We do sell a chopped salad or have in the past nine in world, we have it in a bowl that, you know, instead of leaning over, you can kind of bring it to your mouth.

[Waylon Wong]

Honestly, what a time to be alive. You need a chopped salad at the movies. Adrienne but, you know, concessions have evolved way past popcorn and candy and soda. So some places you can even get dinner and cocktails.

[Adrienne Matt]

And movie theaters want to sell you more than just a ticket and snacks. These days, Nel's also oversees merchandise for amc. And in the last few years, that's meant souvenir popcorn buckets as tie ins with major releases.

[Waylon Wong]

Now, these are not disposable paper tubs with a logo printed on them. No, these are solid, usually plastic objects, and they're often in the shape of something related to the movie, like a hot pink Corvette convertible in the case of last year's Barbie movie. Nell says a lot of these vessels, as the industry calls them, are basically movie props that you can put popcorn in.

[Nell Storm]

Maybe, yes, it has to hold popcorn, but it's not. We're not designing around a tub. We're designing popcorn into a really cool prop. In many cases, we want our guests to see this piece in our social feed and just run, not walk to the theater to get it.

[Adrienne Matt]

Nell says AMC aims to sell out of the buckets during the film's first weekend. That maximizes the hype around the release, and it ensures theaters aren't stuck with a whole inventory of unsold buckets when the next blockbuster lands.

[Nell Storm]

We want to make sure to make every Despicable Me 4 guest happy and then move on to a quiet place day one, and then move on to Twisters and then move on to Deadpool and Wolverine. And so we want to keep the wheels turning.

[Waylon Wong]

AMC's first big popcorn bucket was for Star the Rise of Skywalker. In 2019, the company released a bucket in the shape of R2D2, the lovable round droid.

[Adrienne Matt]

Nell says AMC drew on the expertise of Disney, which, of course, owns Star Wars. But Disney also has a long track record of selling collectible souvenir popcorn buckets at its theme parks. The R2D2 buckets were priced at 50 bucks a piece, and they sold out opening night.

[Nell Storm]

We believed it was going to be something huge. And then, of course, the world stopped turning and we had to take a pause.

[Waylon Wong]

EMC's next popcorn bucket wouldn't come until 2021 with the release of Afterlife. Other movie theater chains like Regal and Cinemark are also selling souvenir popcorn containers. For Despicable Me, Regal came out. Did you see this agent? It's a popcorn bucket that looks like a baby carrier with straps that go over your shoulder.

[Adrienne Matt]

This frees up both hands. It allows you to do the selfie while you're eating your popcorn. And despite this trend, these novelty objects are still a small part of the movie theater business. In 2023, merchandise sales totaled $54 million for AMC, and that is just 3% of the total food and beverage revenues for the year. But these collectibles are increasingly an important part of the competition between movie theaters.

[Waylon Wong]

And this is because the chains are battling over a smaller pool of customers. Alicia Reese analyzes publicly traded media and entertainment companies for the firm Wedbush Securities. Alicia estimates that box office revenues in North America are down 40% from pre pandemic levels. Moviegoers are pickier now about what they want to see in the theaters. But Alicia says when people do venture out, they're willing to spend.

[Alicia Reese]

One of the things that we've seen post pandemic that's been really interesting is people are increasingly buying premium tickets. People are going to see movies on IMAX screens or on other premium large format screens. They're also spending more on concessions.

[Waylon Wong]

Spending more on concessions is good for the theaters because the profit margin on food and beverage is really high, 80 plus percent, according to Alicia. She says the popcorn buckets are helping boost concession revenues even more.

[Adrienne Matt]

And these collectible containers are aimed at the movie fans. These are the people who are hyped to buy a ticket on opening day for a big new release. What the industry calls a tentpole. Film theaters want those die hards to open up their wallets.

[Alicia Reese]

When there's a movie that hits really well, they're maximizing that. The large tentpole movies, especially ones that people have been looking forward to for a long period of time, that's really where you can upsell now.

[Waylon Wong]

We've seen from history that when there's a pop culture collectible, a secondary market will follow. And that is definitely the case for these souvenir popcorn buckets. There's a whole economy of resellers flipping these things for a profit.

[Marcus Vasso]

My name is Marcus Vasso. I'm a reseller on ebay with the company I created called Bucket Bandits with.

[Adrienne Matt]

A Z. Marcus got into the bucket resale game at the behest of a friend. He spent $75 on three buckets for spider man across the spider verse. And his friend put him on ebay.

[Marcus Vasso]

And like, in three, three days, he brought me back, like $300. I was like, wait, what? What just happened? You mean people are willing to pay this much for this?

[Waylon Wong]

They are. It turns out people are routinely willing to pay two or three times the retail price of a popcorn bucket. Now, when there are new releases, Marcus and his team will fan out and buy up dozens of containers.

[Adrienne Matt]

Yeah. For example, you remember the dune sandworm bucket bucket bucket we were talking about earlier? Well, Marcus says demand for those things was really high. And he, he bought 130 of them for about 25 bucks a piece. And he says he was able to resell one of them for as much as $99.

[Marcus Vasso]

It went viral. So we kind of got that world audience. It was cool. Shipping things off to South Africa, the Netherlands. Yeah, it's awesome as well too.

[Waylon Wong]

And just like in the primary market, the selling window for these buckets is short. Marcus puts it at two weekends. So if he bets big on a container for a movie that flops, well, let's just say that he's still trying to offload a couple buckets for the Garfield movie that came out in May.

[Adrienne Matt]

I didn't even know there was a Garfield movie.

[Waylon Wong]

So that's the problem in a nutshell, Adrienne. People took to this movie like Garfield takes to Mondays.

[Adrienne Matt]

Meanwhile, back at amc, Nell Storm says there's even more movie merchandise coming. The company's rolling out hundreds of souvenir kiosks at its locations that'll sell things like keychains and posters.

[Waylon Wong]

And Nell says there's also an opportunity to sell popcorn buckets for theatrical re releases of classic movies. As long as the Hollywood studios are on board.

[Nell Storm]

I'd love to. You know, if we re release Caddyshack, you can bet we'd have gophers and golf bags and all the fun things happening. 100%.

[Waylon Wong]

Adrienne. If you could turn a movie prop from your favorite movie into a collectible popcorn bucket. What would it be?

[Adrienne Matt]

My first answer would be Zoolander.

[Waylon Wong]

You could do the gas station pump.

[Adrienne Matt]

From the gasoline or like a orange mocha frappuccino cup.

[Waylon Wong]

That'd be really good.

[Marcus Vasso]

We wanted to take a moment as the year comes to a close to say thanks. Your support is what keeps NPR and the Indicator going.

[Waylon Wong]

An easy way to support our work is through npr. If you've already joined, we really appreciate it. NPR if you've never given to public media or you haven't in a while, we would love for you to consider it.

[Marcus Vasso]

A small recurring donation gets you perks for more than 25 NPR podcasts like Sponsor Free Listening and Bonus episodes. Go to plus.NPR.org for details. Thanks again for being part of the public media community.

[Waylon Wong]

This episode was produced by Cooper Katz McKim and Julia Ritchie with engineering by Robert Rodriguez. It was fact checked by Cierra Juarez, Cake and Cannon is the show's editor and the Indicator is a production of NPR.

[Capella University]

This message comes from GiveWell GiveWell provides rigorous, transparent research about the best giving opportunities so that donors can make informed decisions about high impact giving. To learn more, go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter NPR at checkout.

[NPR]

This message comes from Warby Parker what makes a great pair of glasses at Warby Parker? It's all the invisible extras without the extra cost, like free adjustments for life. Find your [e-mail] or visit one of their hundreds of stores around the country. This message comes from NPR sponsor Shopify, the global commerce platform that helps you sell and show up exactly the way you want to customize your online store to your style. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com n.