The curious rise of novelty popcorn buckets

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Even before the Dune: Part 2 popcorn bucket went viral this year, movie theaters have been trying all types of ways to lure customers back. There's reclining seats, expanded menu options and even more merchandise. Today on the show, we track the rise of the popcorn bucket and its afterlife on eBay.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:04.0	There.
0:05.0	There's something unsettling happening at the movie theaters lately.
0:15.0	I have a bad feeling about this.
0:18.0	People aren't going to the movies like they used to.
0:21.0	Box office numbers are way down from their pre-pendemic levels. Some of the summer's big releases didn't
0:26.4	do as well as expected. I could have been a contender. On top of that, last year's Hollywood
0:31.4	labor strikes mean there are fewer movies in a pipeline than normal.
0:34.8	Sheriff, this is no time to panic.
0:36.6	This is the perfect time to panic.
0:38.6	These famous film characters are upset, but out of these dark uncertain times for Hollywood a possible
0:45.4	hero is emerging something that movie theater chains are hoping will get more
0:49.7	dollars flowing into local megaplexes. This potential savior, a novelty popcorn bucket.
0:56.2	That is right. Maybe you've seen one of these popcorn buckets that looks like
1:01.2	Wolverine's head, for instance instance for the new Deadpool and
1:04.0	Wolverine movie coming out this week or maybe you've seen the infamous
1:08.0	Sandworm bucket that was released for the Dune Part 2 movie this spring
1:12.0	Saturday Night Live actually did a whole song about it.
1:14.0	This is the indicator from Planet Money.
1:20.0	I'm Wailin Wong.
1:21.0	And I'm Adrian Ma.
1:22.8	Movie theaters make most of their money by selling two things,
	...

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