Collectible movie popcorn buckets are not exactly anything new, but in recent years, the trend has become a major fixture for theater chains and for anyone participating in pop culture who succumbs to the fear of missing out. Any time a major movie is released, there are often multiple different popcorn buckets that debut alongside it, with some of them exclusive to respective chains. As a result, fans may have to make a trip to multiple theaters if they’re trying to collect them all, but sometimes the same designs debut at every movie theater chain in America, and that still may not be enough to meet the demand.
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Over the weekend, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie became one of the highest-grossing movies of the year, bringing in over $370 million globally and putting itself on a path to match the original The Super Mario Bros. Movie and bring in over a billion dollars. With that many people heading out to see the film, one would be right in assuming that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has its own themed popcorn buckets. According to AMC CEO Adam Aron, the stock of popcorn buckets for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie sold out at the chain in just a matter of days, breaking a record that had been held for years.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Popcorn Buckets Sell Out (But There’s One You Can Pre-Order Now)
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Aron revealed that AMC fully anticipated there would be huge demand for the popcorn buckets for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. As a result, the company actually ordered more than half a million units to sell at their theaters and on their website, calling it “a massive and far bigger quantity of movie-themed merchandise.” Aron noted that the last time they ordered this much for a movie was when Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour debuted in AMC theatres in October of 2023.
“In just the first three days, we already have sold more Super Mario themed product than for any other movie since Taylor’s concert film in 2023,” Aron revealed. “Indeed, through only Friday, we already have sold about two-thirds of our total available inventory. We should be at or close to being fully sold out by this Sunday — and totally sold out by the coming midweek or certainly by next weekend.”
This is a telling reveal from Aron with regard to not only how big The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is with audiences, but how much bigger Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was compared to other movies released since that film. In the time since the Taylor Swift movie, there have been some MAJOR movies with popular popcorn buckets that were released, including Deadpool & Wolverine (and other Marvel films), both Wicked movies, and the one that started it all anyway, Dune: Part Two.
It’s worth noting that AMC had stocked three different kinds of popcorn buckets for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The first is a collectible LED bucket modeled after Luma from the film, with a glowing bucket that came in six different colors (pink, orange, yellow, red, green, blue) and sold for $44.95. AMC also had a popcorn bucket that set a Guinness World Record for the World’s Smallest Commercially Available Popcorn Container, with the Bowser-themed Mini Popcorn Bucket Bag selling for $10 (it can only hold eight pieces of popcorn total).
Finally, AMC and other chains had the popcorn bucket that fans flocked to, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Yoshi Popcorn Bucket with the iconic green dinosaur from the film and games holding an egg that itself holds the popcorn. The bucket sold for $49.95 at the time, and though is among the buckets that sold out, there is still hope for fans who didn’t grab one. AMC is currently selling pre-orders for another wave of the Yoshi Popcorn Bucket on its website for anyone who happened to miss it. The only downside is that this second wave of Yoshi popcorn buckets won’t be released until later this year, with delivery starting in August. That said, once these pre-orders close on April 17, that will be the last chance to get the Yoshi Popcorn Bucket at a reasonable price.
