The War of the Popcorn Buckets has begun, and it is officially Not Safe for Work.
Two months after Dune 2 released a novelty popcorn bucket that Saturday Night Live mocked for looking like a sex toy, the marketing team behind Deadpool & Wolverine has unveiled its own. And while Dune’s version may have been inadvertently suggestive, there was nothing accidental about this one.
“Years from now they will look back at 2024 as when the War of the Popcorn Buckets began,” wrote Ryan Reynolds, aka Deadpool, via X.
Reynolds shared a video of the bucket and, well, there’s no cleaner way to put it: A hand lightly caresses the face of the bucket, designed to look like Wolverine’s head, only with an over-sized, wide open mouth. The mouth points up as popcorn falls into it and butter dribbles all over its face.
That’s it. That’s the video. Deadpool & Wolverine created a popcorn bucket that teenage boys will view in an incognito window and save to their computers as “EnglishHomework.mp4.”
It is a masterful troll of Dune 2, whose mistake gave the blockbuster sequel plenty of unexpected publicity.
“That thing sat in our office for six months. It sat in Legendary’s office for six months, because, you know, they moved the movie. And it sat in AMC’s office for six months. There was a couple of things said, but no one equated it to what happened,” the bucket’s co-designer, Rod Mason told Polygon.
The Dune 2 bucket was designed to look like a sandworm, allowing fans to reach into its mouth to grab popcorn. Only, for those unfamiliar with the movie, the opening looked like it might be meant for…something else.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige promised the Deadpool & Wolverine bucket would have a “crude and rude” design, and he delivered.
“We’ve asked Deadpool to design a popcorn bucket for Deadpool & Wolverine,” Feige told an audience at CinemaCon in April. “And I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say, there are some movies that inadvertently make crude and rude popcorn buckets, and then there are popcorn buckets designed by Deadpool.”
Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, shared the same video to his Instagram channel and captioned it “Don’t try to butter me up.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is Marvel’s first R-rated superhero movie, though marketing for its merch may garner an X rating. It’s unclear which theaters will carry the bucket when the movie is released on July 26, but expect to see some rather immature re-enactments of the video as customers dispense their butter.
If you’re wondering about cost, the Dune 2 bucket went for $24.99 at theaters and sold out, in part thanks to the SNL skit. Innuendo aside, novelty buckets in general have been a lucrative enterprise for movie theaters. The Barbie bucket sold for $34.99 and garnered AMC nearly $1 million in revenue, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
