Tom Cruise doesn’t hold his tongue when it comes to his film projects – even when it involves off-screen promotional material. As revealed in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Cruise stood firm on the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One souvenir popcorn bucket that was released alongside the film in theaters. Prior to release, the bucket was initially planned to be a version of the film’s submarine, the Sevastopol, until Cruise and his fellow producers shot it down. The final result was a more subdued bucket that featured the eye of the film’s villainous AI, The Entity. But it also planted a creative seed for the sequel, The Final Reckoning, leading to Cruise taking part in designing the collectible popcorn bucket for the latest entry.
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“We wanted to incorporate the movie’s submarine [The Sevastopol], but Cruise and the producers said no, so we had to go back to the drawing board,” the article revealed. The details about the new popcorn bucket are being held under wraps until the film premieres on May 23, 2025. AMC’s Director of Food and Beverage Product Strategy, Rob Bennett said he was happy with the final design.
“[We] nailed it,” he said to TIME Magazine in February. “I like that the filmmakers are passionate about it.”
Over the past few years, collectible popcorn buckets have become a staple of the theater experience, with a few of the more outlandish offerings going viral. Who can forget the Sandworm popcorn bucket released alongside Dune: Part 2? It inspired a lot of chatter online and a hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch joking about other uses for the bucket.
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We’ve also seen collectible buckets for Deadpool & Wolverine, with input from Ryan Reynolds, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice from Tim Burton, and several others. TIME magazine credits The Rise of Skywalker’s release in 2019 as the conception point for the popcorn buckets but notes that it wasn’t until the release of Barbie that theater chains got a taste of competition for the special popcorn buckets.
“To be 100% honest, it was Barbie,” Bennett explained. “There was the convertible car, which unfortunately a rival had. But we had the popcorn container that looks like the box that Barbie comes in with the clear front. It really opened our eyes to the potential of these items.”
For theaters, the novelty items get people to buy tickets and fill seats, with the buckets selling between $24 and $60, with scarcity increasing demand and helping theaters increase first-week sales.
“Once we’re through that initial week, we see sales drop off, so we try to hit that perfect number,” Bennett added. “Our goal is to sell out Sunday afternoon.”
As it stands, the buckets remain popular. The whole tease about secrecy for this Mission: Impossible popcorn bucket supports that popularity, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll end any time soon. Even if buckets aren’t helping to lure you into the theater, it is working for a lot of other fans. With the summer movie season nipping at our toes, we could see a few great additions to that list.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will land in theaters on May 23, 2025, with Tom Cruise potentially leading his final film of the franchise. There is no indication that he’s debating his exit from the film world, but he may be aiming to take a step back in future installments. Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, and Vanessa Kirby all return from the recent films, while Ving Rhames returns as Luther Stickel for his eighth appearance in the franchise.
Do you think the popcorn bucket trend at theaters is making a difference? Will you be buying one at your next outing? Let us know in the comments.
