And Just Like That, AMC Killed the Nicole Kidman Meme

I love the Nicole Kidman ad about going back to movie theaters, unironically. I love it so much. There’s nothing that fills me with joy like seeing a room full of people clap for it, cheering when she says “heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” We’re all weird! Yes, it was to encourage people to go back to seeing movies in theaters, and while I know there are a lot of issues with this, I do think that AMC’s stubs plan is the most bang for your buck (you pay $19.95 a month for up to 3 movies a week in any format, and with the price of a movie ticket being roughly $10 or more in places not in NYC, that’s a pretty good deal).

This ad has become a beast all on its own. From quotes and Etsy artwork to posters and Halloween costumes, fans love that this ad exists, and I am one of those fans. I love it so much that I can quote the entire thing, and whenever they change the movies included in it, I get mad. Why does it look like they torrented the Wonder Woman No Man’s Land scene from YouTube? Why is the quality so grainy? I’ll never know, but I adore it.

What I don’t love is that AMC is now trying to sell merch for this obsession we have with it. No, sorry guys, this isn’t for you. This is for the rest of us; you just unintentionally gave us the best meme on the planet and thought you were giving us something serious in the process. The merch is … well, bad! Because some executive came up with it.

The slippers are awful. The robe? NO! Help!

No one wants a snuggie, Robert

I know that AMC wanted it to be branded, but we all know where the AMC ad is. That’s how good it is. But they’re all so out of the loop that they just assume they have to have a bad AMC logo across whatever they made instead of hiring artists who make great “Nicole Kidman in an empty theater watching Jurassic World” art to create something worthwhile. This is just bad, and it makes me very upset because I do love this ad with my whole chest.

It makes me forget that capitalism is bad for a second. In that one brief moment, I’m like, “You’re right, Nicole Kidman. Movies are magical, and I can rent out a movie theater to myself to experience that magic,” and then I remember that I did not star in Moulin Rouge or Cold Mountain and don’t have the money for it. AMC had a good thing going for it, but this move is not it. The merch is so bad, and if I see one of you in this snuggie in the AMC closest to me, I will make fun of you.

We may salute the AMC ad every chance we get here in New York theaters, but that doesn’t mean we support this.

(featured image: AMC)