Tron: Ares has longtime fans ready to hop back onto the grid this weekend. But, a lot of them are going to spend a bit more time in line for concessions when they see the wild popcorn bucket for the new movie. It’s been a long wait since Tron: Legacy back in 2010. A lot has changed in 15 years, including the scale and intensity of popcorn buckets! The new Tron editions from AMC & Regal are absolutely bonkers.
So, the most intricate of the designs is shaped like a giant lightcycle with a program riding it. The Tron: Ares popcorn bucket lights up bright red and that’s like the second coolest part about it! When you really zoom in on the bucket, the clear wheels are where the popcorn actually goes! It’s wild to see them fill up with the kernels and then turn the red lights on at the same time. Expect big Tron fans to go ahead and pick one of these up at AMC when the movie opens this week.
For those who might be curious, the lightcycle popcorn bucket is a whopping $74.99. Most Disney merchandise experiences that kind of price hike, and seeing as how this Tron piece is like the collector buckets at the parks, expect to bring that wallet out. (40 whole ounces of popcorn though!) The secondary $30 bucks still lights up, although it’s less flashy!
Tron: Ares meets popcorn bucket fever
The past couple of years has seen the proliferation of these collectible popcorn buckets in multiple theater chains across the United States and beyond. A lot of folks only became aware of the popcorn bucket fever when the Dune 2 merchandise began making the rounds. There’s no question that people are buying these strange collectibles, and that’s why these studios keep releasing more extreme versions of them. Northeastern Global News talked to an expert about the phenomenon.
Steve Granelli, one of Northeastern University’s Associate Professors of communication studies, offered his take. “The bucket gave fans an opportunity to be able to display their fandom in a way to suggest, ‘Yes, I was there. Yes, I paid the extra money to get the popcorn bucket. Yes, I still have the bucket. This is what level of fan I am,’” he argued.
It’s hard to argue with this analysis. Just like concert t-shirts before them, and the rise of fan merch of all stripes, they’re a status symbol. You have to prove that you were actually there in an age where just posting about it isn’t gonna get you much. Is that worth $75 in United States currency? Well, that all depends on how badly you want to prove you were there for Tron: Ares.
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