Our Popcorn Bucket Mania Has Come for ‘Oppenheimer’

With the rise in popularity of collectible popcorn buckets and Oppenheimer arriving in theaters on July 21, and viewers may be wondering if the film will come with a special bucket of its own. Disney World park guests have been raving over their cost-effective and souvenir-worthy refillable popcorn buckets, and films from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to Dungeons & Dragons have boasted their own collectible popcorn buckets. It’s becoming customary for new popcorn buckets to be released for Disney, Marvel, and DC films. Recently, even Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Barbie have been getting in on the popcorn bucket action.

Of course, Oppenheimer is a little different from films like Dungeons and Dragons and Barbie. While it has been closely associated with Barbie because the two share a release date, it couldn’t be more different in premise. Oppenheimer is a harrowing war drama and biopic from Christopher Nolan, the filmmaker known for complex films that delve deep into topics of morality and identity. The film will dive into the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and the path that led him to become known as the “father of the atomic bomb.” In addition to Murphy, Oppenheimer has quite the cast stacked up, including Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Jack Quaid, and more.

Oppenheimer is certainly shaping up to be a pretty big spectacle, and considering that it’s three hours long, you’ll probably need some popcorn to get through it.

Will Oppenheimer have a collectible popcorn bucket?

So far, there is no special Oppenheimer popcorn bucket that theater-goers can purchase. But with a few days left before its premiere, it remains a possibility. Exactly how likely Oppenheimer is to get a popcorn bucket is difficult to gauge, though, as it is the kind of movie that might make it difficult to come up with a good popcorn bucket design. Some may find it a little morbid to eat popcorn out of an atomic bomb, for instance. At the same time, it wouldn’t necessarily be any more morbid than eating popcorn out of Ant-Man’s head or Batman’s Cowl. Plus, Oppenheimer could always go the less-controversial route and make a popcorn bucket out of Oppenheimer‘s signature hat or something.

Oppenheimer hasn’t been too preoccupied with marketing, though. In fact, Barbie fans have been a little smug about their film boasting a much more massive and unique marketing campaign, hoping it will help Gerwig’s film rise above Oppenheimer.

The somber storyline does make it a little difficult for Oppenheimer to use the same tactics as Barbie when marketing. With its more measured and serious approach to marketing, it might be best to forego the whole special popcorn bucket approach.

(featured image: Universal Pictures)