After its opening weekend, Dune 2 has already grossed £147m ($182.5m) globally. But it wasn’t just Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya drawing fans to the theatre: the film’s limited-edition popcorn bucket, released by AMC in honour of the film, has a fandom all its own.
The bucket is unique, to say the least. It resembles a sandworm, aka a Shai-Hulud, of the planet Arrakis. When reaching into the bucket, a fan’s hand has to graze the creature’s plastic teeth to get to the popcorn inside. Videos about the bucket have amassed millions of views on TikTok, been the subject of a SNL skit and been laughed about by late night host Jimmy Kimmel. But fans don’t seem put off by the strangeness – or the suggestiveness – of the snack holder. In fact, the popularity of it is indisputable – that is, unless you ask the cast.
The stars of the film seemed borderline disturbed by the popular piece of merchandise, according to a recent Entertainment Tonight interview. Zendaya commented on how difficult it seems to actually get the popcorn out: “It pulls the popcorn out of your hand,” she told the publication, while a creeped-out Josh Brolin added, “I’m not sticking my hand in there.”
Still, the buckets have proven to be a successful gimmick, and perhaps the fandom should have been expected – there is a long history of memorable merchandise from Dune films. The 1984 version of the film by director David Lynch had unique memorabilia: you could buy sandworm action figures, which you can still find on eBay today. Only now, they’re being sold for hundreds. Likewise, the Dune lunchbox and thermos can still be found on Etsy. Plus, Dune isn’t even the first film in the last year to be marketed with a pricey, fan-baiting popcorn receptacle.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie had its own popcorn tins, too: Instead of sandworms, they resembled the icon’s pink Corvette. The Barbie brand seemed unavoidable leading up to the film’s release, and it paid off. Not only did the movie have a history-making opening weekend, but sales for Barbie merchandise and Barbies themselves were massive.
