Popcorn buckets - some at $70 - become new cash cow for movie theaters

A new trend has moviegoers paying buckets of money for collectible concession containers.

Some popcorn buckets, costing as much as $70, are so popular that they sell out in a day, according to a report Thursday from the New York Times.

The craze for buckets shaped like a Trojan horse from The Odyssey ($69.95); a stag head from Disclosure Day ($49.95); and a red purse from The Devil Wears Prada ($39.95) even has movie theater executives baffled.

“I know a lot about the movie business, and I didn’t really know much about the bucket business,” AMC CEO Rich Gelfond told The Times. “It was beyond me to really envision that there’d be a strong demand for $50 popcorn buckets.”

The bucket business is projected to reach $100 million in 2026, double what it made three years ago, according to theTimes.

The Trojan horse, stag head and purse were so popular they are sold out in online stores of the nation’s two largest movie theater chains, AMC and Regal cinemas.

The Trojan horse’s bucket brother, a replica of the IMAX camera used to shoot The Odyssey, is listed at $49.99 on Regal and AMC’s online stores but only available for preorders.

In 2025, Marvel's Fantastic Four Galactus popcorn bucket set and still maintains the world record for the largest popcorn container commercially available. The hulking, glimmering container holds 9 liters of popcorn.

The popcorn buckets are part of a resurgence of the American movie theater, according to data from revenue tracker Box Office Mojo. The industry has earned $5.4 billion in box office revenue in 2026 so far and is on tract to finish the year at $9.7 billion.

If it hits that figure, it will be the industry’s most profitable year since 2019, according to Box Office Mojo.

Buzz Lightyear, right, in a clip from the year’s top-grossing movie,Toy Story 5, was used as the animated movie’s collectible concession bucket (Disney/Pixar)

Four of the six highest-grossing movies this year sold collectible concession buckets: Toy Story 5 had a Buzz Lightyear bucket; The Super Mario Galaxy Movie launched with a Yoshi bucket; Obsession released a One Wish Willow bucket; and the red handbag bucket from Devil Wears Prada 2.

The buckets have become such a craze, that there’s a thriving secondary market: eBay listings for the Odyssey’s Trojan horse have sold for anywhere from $63.89 to $149.