AMC unveiled two "Dune: Part Three" popcorn bucket designs on Thursday: a "Sandworm Thumper" with a working thumper and a "Double Sandworm" bucket with two worms, which the company's press release says "make it easier to share popcorn," according to Variety.
The math first: AMC projects more than $100 million from themed tins this year, per Variety's box office numbers, which means the popcorn bucket is the real sequel. The Dune trilogy ends with a third film, but the franchise that actually runs is the one on the concession stand. The movies are the loss leader for the merchandise, and the box office is where the merch gets its warmup.
The design team's answer to the 2024 bucket, which became a meme for looking like something you do not want to put popcorn in and earned its own SNL sketch, is: two of them. The Worm Deluxe is two worm mouths in one tin. That's not a design decision, that's a press release written by a committee that has never opened a bucket. The rest of the lineup is a light-up Atreides cup, a guild navigator cup, a worm plush, and "mystery keychains," which is what a blind box is called when the brand still has to explain it.
Somewhere out there a man is paying $80 for the 2024 bucket on eBay. He bought the first one. He will buy this one. The second worm is not for sharing the popcorn. It's for sharing the markup.
YOUR TURN: Which is the bigger sequel: the third film, or the bucket with two of them?
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