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'The Indicator from Planet Money': The curious rise of novelty popcorn buckets

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.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Wailin Wong
Wailin Wong is a long-time business and economics journalist who's reported from a Chilean mountaintop, an embalming fluid factory and lots of places in between. She is a host of The Indicator from Planet Money. Previously, she launched and co-hosted two branded podcasts for a software company and covered tech and startups for the Chicago Tribune. Wailin started her career as a correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires in Buenos Aires. In her spare time, she plays violin in one of the oldest community orchestras in the U.S.
Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.