MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
First, there was the sandworm-shaped popcorn bucket for "Dune: Part Two." Now moviegoers can get a bucket shaped like Wolverine's head for the latest "Deadpool" release. Clearly, novelty popcorn buckets are a thing. Wailin Wong and Adrian Ma, for NPR's Planet Money podcast The Indicator, dig into why.
ADRIAN MA, BYLINE: Movie theaters want to sell you more than just the ticket and snacks these days, and in the last few years, that's meant souvenir popcorn buckets as tie-ins with major releases.
WAILIN WONG, BYLINE: Nels Storm is vice president of food and beverage strategy for AMC Theaters. Nels says a lot of these vessels, as the industry calls them, are basically movie props that you can put popcorn in - well, maybe.
NELS STORM: Yes, it has to hold popcorn, but it's not - we're not designing around a tub.
MA: Nels 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.
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 & Wolverine," and so we want to keep the wheels turning.
MA: 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.
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 going to see movies on IMAX screens or on other premium, large-format screens. They're also spending more on concessions.
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. Now, 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 the souvenir popcorn buckets.
MARCUS VASSELL: My name's Marcus Vassell. I'm a reseller on eBay with a company I created called Bucket Banditz, with a Z.
MA: 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 them on eBay.
VASSELL: And, like, in (laughter) three days, he brought me back, like, $300. I was like, wait - what just happened (laughter)? You mean people are willing to pay this much for this?
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 (laughter).
MA: I didn't even know there was a Garfield movie.
WONG: That's the problem in a nutshell, Adrian.
(LAUGHTER)
MA: Adrian Ma.
WONG: Wailin Wong, NPR News.
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