The popcorn bucket wars have become literal wars with Cinemark’s latest release, Gladiator II. The theater chain’s newest addition is not only shaped like Rome’s Colosseum, but when you wave your smartphone over the QR code (AR-ENA, get it?) on the bottom, you’ll see a cute augmented reality gladiator fight. will be played. The butter on the popcorn is Cinemark’s tagline: “War is edible.”
In fact, all of the ad copy is spectacularly cheap. “The core of all power, all honor is for the glory of Rome. As you preside over this gladiatorial arena, you can…eat war. Finish your popcorn and unleash your inner battle. You’ll enjoy it.” Honest Trailer-style intonation takes it up a notch.
This is the latest popcorn bucket movie merchandise, following the high-profile releases of Dune and Deadpool. We also saw films like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Beetlejuice that didn’t quite capture the same zeitgeist.
Sure, you might need to wipe off some popcorn grease to read the QR code on your Cinemark bucket. The AR animation of two gladiators fighting is reminiscent of PlayStation 2 renderings. Still, neither Dune Bucket nor Wolverine Bucket has any interactive features. So, with the Gladiator II bucket, you can beat them. This is a smart way to get involved in the tech press.
It’s also plausible that Cinemark’s containers are shaped like Colosseum-shaped popcorn buckets. The same can’t be said for Dune’s sandworm-shaped bucket or Deadpool’s Wolverine’s head bucket (Dune director Denis Villeneuve called the latter “terrifying” but that’s correct). If you’re looking to expand your collection, the Gladiator II Popcorn Bucket is arriving “soon,” and the movie itself hits theaters on November 22nd.
