Dune Popcorn Bucket

2024

Date: February 2024 · Place: AMC Theatres, USA · Figures: AMC, exhibitor · Warner Bros, distributor · Saturday Night Live (sketch reference) · Tags: Object, Cinema, Innuendo 01. The Sandworm Container AMC releases an exclusive Dune: Part Two popcorn bucket on 21 February 2024. The bucket is molded into the open maw of a sandworm. The opening is, the internet immediately notes, suggestively shaped. The bucket sells out within days at 24.99 dollars. Resellers list them for 200 to 500 dollars on eBay. Saturday Night Live runs a Timothée Chalamet sketch about the bucket on 2 March. Paul Mescal, hosting a different week, jokes about it on camera. The bucket eclipses the actual film in cultural footprint for two weeks. 02. Promotional Object as Meme The Dune bucket becomes the prototype for a year of weird studio-issued physical merchandise. Subsequent buckets for Despicable Me 4, Garfield, and Wonka all attempt to repeat the cycle. None match. The cinema lobby, two years after Gentleminions, is fully meme territory. Sources • The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Sandworm Dune Popcorn Bucket Has Taken Over the Internet' (23 February 2024) • AMC Theatres, official bucket announcement (15 February 2024) • The Cut, 'Why Is Everyone Talking About the Dune Popcorn Bucket' (27 February 2024)