Remember when movie theaters served hot buttered popcorn in a generic cardboard container? Not anymore. Movie night at the local theater is now an event—with swanky popcorn buckets at the helm.
That’s excellent news for collectors and thrifters, as many of these limited-edition vessels become more elusive after the movie’s popularity fades.
COVID-19 and Popcorn
Many people have long enjoyed watching a movie at the local theater. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted movie night from theaters to the living room. After the world reopened, the movie business struggled to get consumers back into theaters.
Enter the popcorn bucket.
Companies like Cinemark, Marcus, Regal, and B&B Theaters are diving into the retail trade, selling plastic buckets, drink sippers, and apparel, raking in millions of dollars in addition to ticket sales.
“It started with us in a big way with our own movie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, that we released in October of 2023, and we sold just an incredible number of popcorn buckets,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a recent NBC Business News story. “That sparked us to do it almost all the time … just literally every month.”
Additionally, even questionably designed buckets are up for grabs. Critics lambasted the awkward “sandworm” tub created for the March 2024 release of Dune, Part Two, claiming it resembled a sex toy and was challenging to use. That’s because the bucket’s opening was a literal circle of toothy plastic “fangs.” It sold at the theater for about $25.
“What a horrible monstrosity it is,” LA Mag writer Julius Miller wrote days after the movie’s release. “The plastic teeth protruding from the mouth of a worm breaking the Arrakis soil, you’re expected to reach through a fanged hole to grab a handful of popcorn, only to lose half of it when trying to exit the worm.”
Social media and even Saturday Night Live cheered the bucket into viral stardom, which continues today. A quick check of the Worthpoint database revealed that since the movie debuted, nearly 400 buckets sold in the secondary market for between $50 and $100—a recent one sold for $122.
Popping into the Future
Meanwhile, as news outlets from Forbes to Rolling Stone help maintain their popularity, it’s time for collectors and resellers to get in the game to find unique popcorn buckets to curate and resell.
Here’s a quick list of movies that have or will debut in 2025 and 2026 and will likely feature popcorn buckets as major co-stars.
2025:
Captain America: Brave New World
Thunderbolts
Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning
How to Train Your Dragon
Jurassic World Rebirth
Superman
Fantastic Four: First Steps
Wicked: For Good
Zootopia 2
Avatar: Fire and Ash
New for 2026:
Super Mario Bros sequel
Avengers: Doomsday
The Mandalorian and Grogu
Toy Story 5
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Minions 3
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Ice Age 6
Shrek 5
Research and Get Your Timing Right
Movie theaters now strategically produce popcorn buckets to maximize profits, knowing that some will sell long after the movie leaves. This selling strategy will likely affect resale values in the future. Add to the fact that yard sale season will be underway soon, and it’s time to prepare.
If you haven’t already done so, familiarize yourself with Google Trends to learn more about your particular search. For example, search “popcorn bucket” for related queries for specific timelines. I performed a Google Trends search for the past 90 days of “popcorn bucket” and found that “dune” is still a top search keyword. I found that “star wars popcorn bucket” searches increased by 800% over the last three months, and searches for “batman popcorn bucket” increased by 350%.
To expand on my Google Trend searches, I rely on the Worthpoint Price Guide, which gives me recent sales and those over a decade old. This robust database also gives me pricing from High to Low, Low to High, Recent Sales, and Best Matches. Most importantly, I can take a photo of an item through the Worthpoint App to quickly and seamlessly pull up results when I’m out thrifting. So, if I snap a picture of a “batman bat signal popcorn bucket,” I’ll quickly find that 861 of these tubs have sold via eBay and other auctions. The most recent sale was for $72.99, and the oldest sales date back to August 2024, and then averaged just over $100 each. Because of this information, if I thrift one of these in the field, I can quickly list it in my eBay store and price it competitively while I’m still out on the hunt, which is a fantastic time saver.
Know What To Look For
All this information is to help you make the best purchase decision when you’re in the hot sun at a garage sale, ready to make an offer on a nifty promotional popcorn bucket. Remember, you make your money on your purchase price, so hold the line on how much money you’ll offer.
Lastly, check movie theater online shops to see which pieces are listed to help you quickly recognize them. A popcorn bucket from the horror comedy The Monkey is currently on pre-order for $48.95 on the AMC Theaters website. However, the aluminum Cinemark monkey tins retailing for $15 sell between $30 and $40 in the secondary market.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow…and Back Again
As movie popcorn buckets become increasingly famous, I’ve noticed several have detachable parts like a carrying strap or lid, and others are more intricately made. That means whole, undamaged buckets will be more challenging to find and will become more valuable.
Movie buffs are already on social media displaying their curated collections, with photos of large shelves and displays packed with assorted buckets.
All this is a reminder that today’s must-have popcorn containers will become tomorrow’s vintage garage sale scores, so keep your eyes peeled—because a humble 1960s cardboard popcorn bucket decorated with movie monsters sold for (drum roll please) $565.55 in 2024!
Between excursions to hunt for antiques and vintage décor, Lynda Houston is busy restoring her 1950s cottage in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her partner, Dave Beck, operate their shop Salvage and Bloom on eBay.
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