From Theater Snack to $90 Status Symbol: How Popcorn Buckets Became the Hottest Collectible. The hardest thing to do when you believe a product will be a huge success is getting others to believe in your idea. Such was the case when Rob Bennet, Senior Director, Product Innovation & Market Development at Golden Link Inc., then working at AMC Theatres, brought the idea of a figural R2-D2 popcorn bucket to the company. It would be sold during the Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker theatrical run and would become a massive success, selling 30,000 units on opening weekend.
A market that was worth zero for AMC Theatres in 2019 garnered an extra $65 million in revenue to its bottom line in 2024 (According to CNBC). Now, those popcorn buckets and novelties fall under a new category of CCV collectible concession vessels. Not all are meant for the die-hard collector, but the majority are designed with families in mind. This is where Rob Bennet’s design philosophy comes into play: “Let’s build cool stuff, then we can figure out the price, but first it has to be cool!”
What’s next for popcorn bucket collectors? Avatar: Fire & Ash Banshee is coming on December 19th, 2025. Zootopia 2 popcorn buckets are showing up in theaters now, along with the recently released Wicked: For Good collection. Fans, though, are really excited about the upcoming FNAF 2, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 collections. You can follow Golden Link Inc. on Instagram here.
The Spark: An R2-D2 Launch and a ‘Gold’ Vision: The movement’s massive scaling traces its roots back to 2019.
Rob, this all really took off in 2019, didn’t it?
Rob: That’s right. For 20 years, theaters had primarily focused on standard collectible cups and tubs. But in 2019, we launched our first 3D collectible figure: the R2-D2 Popcorn Container for the final Star Wars movie.
It was an extremely challenging internal “sales pitch” at AMC. I saw the prototype at the licensing expo in May, and I immediately knew it was gold. But I spent the next five months selling the entire AMC organization on the idea that this was a thing that would work.
We released it on opening weekend, and the 30,000 units we had immediately blew up. We knew there was something there. Our initial plan was to slowly ramp up in 2020. Then, of course, the pandemic hit.
The Pandemic Rebirth and Going Viral: Coming out of the 2020 slowdown, Rob’s team began collaborating with Gold Link Inc., the global concession and premium supplier. This is where the concept of the CCV truly solidified.
Rob: I was the customer at that point, and we started gearing up for the next wave of collectible releases. The first major one was the Ecto-1 popcorn car for the Ghostbusters film. That was the rebirth coming out of the pandemic. We launched it, and it immediately sold out. It even crashed our website and that’s when we truly knew we had something huge.
And then came the infamous Dune Sandworm Bucket. It absolutely went viral.
Rob: Yes, the Dune bucket is the question everybody asks me about. It was a perfect storm because they kept moving the film’s release date. We had the buckets in the theaters, and it was actually a Canadian theater that leaked it online. The internet lost their mind.
I woke up Sunday morning after the leak to a phone full of messages. At that point, the rest is history. It became all about “how much can we produce, and how fast?”
Did you anticipate the Saturday Night Live sketch about the bucket?
Rob: I did not know about the Saturday Night Live skit. But it just shows how notorious these were becoming. We couldn’t buy that kind of publicity; people just saw it and knew it was amazing.
The Price Point Challenge and the Collectible Shift: The conversation then shifted to the rapid evolution of the product itself, from a simple movie tie-in to a high-value collector’s piece.
Let’s jump to the Galactus popcorn vessel, which holds the world record for the largest popcorn vessel, a title secured with Guinness World Records. How did that come about?
Rob: That was honestly a brainchild of Disney. Up until then, everything was exclusive to one theater chain. Disney had the vision that this particular item would not be exclusive; we would open it up to every single major theater chain globally. That was an “aha!” moment.
The response to Galactus was incredible. It sold out day one at AMC, then sold out day one when it went online, and Regal, Cinemark, and Marcus all picked it up. But to me, the Herbie bucket was the best because it was a 3-in-1 product.
Rob: The price point for the Herbie 3-in-1 was more palatable, but with Galactus, we were pushing close to $80.
Have we reached the ceiling on price yet? I think there’s still room to grow. People are still spending their money no matter what you put out. These aren’t just popcorn buckets anymore; these are statement pieces for people’s shelves.
Rob: Yes, absolutely. We did a partnership with Loungefly, where the popcorn bucket was a Loungefly backpack that was over $90. For the Barbie movie, we actually partnered with Barbie and sold a Barbie doll with the popcorn bucket for $70. As long as it’s the right IP and we present the right value, and to your point, it’s a piece I can put on the shelf, the price will follow.
Keeping the Mouse Happy: Licensing and Design: Managing these viral concepts requires close collaboration with major studios.
What’s it like getting the licensing through? You’re dealing with Disney, Marvel, and Universal; how hard is it to work with them on the design, and are they working directly with you?
Rob: It is a very collaborative process with us and the studios. We have an entire group in our organization dedicated full-time to securing and maintaining these licenses. We even have a dedicated Disney Ambassador whose whole job is keeping the Mouse happy. We’ve been very successful; we work with all the studios globally.
We have an internal design team. I come up with the initial ideas, and then I send them to much more creative people who create the 3D renderings and tooling.
The Future: Expanding Beyond the Cinema: Rob, now with Gold Link Inc., explained the strategic future of the CCV market.
Rob: Before I left AMC, it became less about the over-the-top 3D figures and more about finding value-oriented programs for families. That said, I believe the future lies outside the cinema. This is the white space.
That’s what I was wondering. We’re starting to see tins for MLB teams and individual sports.
Rob: Yes, we are actively expanding into things outside the cinema, like sports and music. We are in the process of being licensed by all the major leagues: the NHL, the NFL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball. We work with the concessionaires like Aramark and Delaware North, who give us access to dozens of professional teams.
Rob: We are now creating “catalog programs,” a single tool that we can now decorate for 30 NBA teams. This drives down costs, as we can spread the tooling cost over 30 customers instead of just one.
We have a plan to “break the internet again” with sports. This season, we will launch in the NBA with eight different teams. We feel very, very confident that these are going to be even more popular than what’s happening in theaters.
Do you have a personal favorite?
Rob: My wife’s favorite is that first R2-D2. But my favorite is the Claptrap bucket from the Borderlands film. It was the first time we added articulation, and you were able to move its hands. It looked incredible. Claptrap is still my favorite.
From Theater Snack to $90 Status Symbol: How Popcorn Buckets Became the Hottest Collectible
The High Price of Popcorn Nostalgia
The conversation with Rob highlights a shift not just in product design, but in market value. The rise of the CCV has transformed a simple concession item into a high-stakes investment, fueled by both movie magic and secondary market frenzy.
While the original retail price points, which topped out near $80 to $90 for premium items like the Galactus Popcorn Vessel and the New soon-to-be-released Avatar: Fire & Ash Banshee popcorn bucket already represent an increase over traditional collectibles, it’s the resale market that truly defines the phenomenon.
Limited releases and viral demand have consistently driven the secondary market value of these “collectible concession vessels” far beyond their initial cost. The infamous Dune Sandworm Bucket, originally priced around $25, saw prices soar into the hundreds, with some listings hitting upwards of $800 during the peak of its virality. Even less outrageous items, like the debut R2-D2 and the articulated Claptrap bucket, typically command two to three times their retail price on resale platforms. This exponential price growth is what makes tracking the CCV market as compelling as the box office itself.
