Viral Dune: Part Two Popcorn Bucket Designers Address Infamous Design

Even the Dune 2 popcorn bucket designers didn't see the jokes coming.

By Nicole Drum

It's been two months since Dune: Part Two hit theaters and while the film continues to receive praise from audiences, there's another aspect of the movie that is a hotter topic of conversation even this far out. That topic is, of course, the infamous popcorn bucket. AMC's souvenir popcorn bucket for Dune: Part Two has a distinctive sandworm design that quickly went viral, becoming the subject of plenty of NSFW jokes and even a noteworthy SNL sketch. Now, the designers behind the popcorn bucket are weighing in, revealing that coming up with the design for the bucket was a challenge to start with — and they didn't see the jokes coming, either.

"We were kind of scratching our heads," Marcus Gonzalez, global creative director for Zinc Group told Polygon. "We kept going back and forth going, 'Is the pain box going to work? And although the pain box is iconic, and it's something that Dune fans know, it also has to be something that is recognizable. It's got to have that nag factor so someone has to be like, Ooh, I want that."

The idea they kept coming back to was the sandworm, but even at that getting the design sorted out had its own challenges — which ironically included them opting not to do a full worm design because of what it looked like.

"The worm always posed a problem, even when the book was written and they had illustrations based off it," Gonzalez said. "Because, you know, it looks like something. So, we opted not to do the full worm for that very reason, which, I guess it doesn't matter."

Gonzales said that the NSFW jokes about the buckets ended up coming as a complete surprise to them.

"You don't know what the internet is going to latch on to and how they're going to latch on to it," Gonzales said.

Dune: Part Two Director Denis Villeneuve Shared His Reaction To The Bucket As Well

Speaking with The New York Times recently, Villeneuve shared his reaction to the bucket, revealing that it made him laugh and that he thinks that the designers are "a bit of a genius."

"I thought that the bucket was an insane marketing idea," Villeneuve said. "I laughed so much. It is so out there. I don't know who designed it, but they're a bit of a genius. I'm at peace with the bucket."

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Another Viral Popcorn Bucket Could Be On The Horizon

With the popularity of the Dune: Part Two bucket, Deadpool & Wolverine could very well be the next movie to have a viral popcorn bucket. Kevin Feige recently teased that the eagerly anticipated film will have a popcorn bucket that is intentionally "crude and lewd".

"Deadpool & Wolverine is getting a popcorn bucket which will be intentionally crude and lewd. #CinemaCon," ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis shared on Twitter while attending the presentation. Move over Dune, because the Merc with the Mouth isn't afraid of stirring the pot."

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