If you’ve been to a theater recently, you’ve probably seen a souvenir popcorn bucket. The movie theater chain AMC is known for these and they even have a plethora of them to purchase on their website. You may have even seem them talked about on the news as a few of them have turned heads. Even major news programs and morning shows like Good Morning America talked about the Dune popcorn bucket. The latest popped corn container to make headlines comes to us as a companion to the upcoming Street Fighter movie that hits theaters on October 16th of this year.

Adrenaline in my soul, something something Cody Rhodes. Picture courtesy of Hypebeast.

You can wear your popcorn as you watch a stacked cast take on the roles made famous in this beloved 40 year old franchise. The iconic hair of Colonel William F Guile can be your new snack vessel/fashion statement. IGN’s Jim Vejvoda wrote about this after the Street Fighter account posted on the social media platform formerly known as twitter. So this made me think about what my favorite over-the-top popcorn buckets are, so here’s my top ten list.

#10: Jason’s Head.
I’m a big horror fan, and though Friday the 13th isn’t in my top 10 horror franchises, I still can appreciate the iconic mask of the Slasher from Camp Crystal Lake. Though AMC is the theater chain that’s most known for their over-the-top popcorn buckets, this one comes to us from Cinemark. As of writing this, it’s sold out, but if they get more back in stock you can expect to drop $39.95 on this, but it’s also already on the second hand market for $40 to $60. If you want to ch ch choose this one, you can find it on Cinemark’s website here. Unlike most popcorn buckets, this one isn’t coming out alongside a movie, but we are getting a new prequel series on Peacock. You can find the trailer in this Variety article.

Ch Ch Ch Ah Ah Awesome. Picture courtesy of Cinemark

#9: Barbie‘s Car and Box
Is have two at number 9 cheating? Maybe. But this is my list so I’ll do as I please, thank you very much. Not only was Greta Gerwig’s Barbie a huge success, but it brought a lot of cool merchandise. For those of us who went to a nationwide chain, we saw the iconic Barbie convertible. In this NY Post article by Brooke Kato, she mentions how there was some mild backlash from the Barbie community over the hefty $65 price tag. But for that money you do get the convertible along with a Barbie doll.

The CON in this convertible is that it doesn’t look like a great popcorn vessel. Picture courtesy of AMC.

But if you were anywhere near a B&B theater, you could get this Barbie box which holds far more popcorn than the arguably better looking convertible. The question when it comes to these Barbie containers is, which one would you rather have on your shelf? I cannot find what the MSRP was for the box bucket, but I can assume that it’s less than AMC’s $64.99. If you want either of these now, however, you should be willing to spend anywhere from $20 to $60 for the box and $35 to as much as $180 for the convertible.

This is a better popcorn bucket. Picture courtesy the B&B Theaters Facebook Page.

#8: The Daily Planet Box from Superman
I love Superman. He’s my favorite hero. Smallville was one of my favorite TV shows. I love all the Superman movies, even the bad Zack Snyder ones. When the new James Gunn Superman movie came out, so did about 8 themed popcorn buckets. Blake Taylor of Attractions Magazine goes over all the options here, but my favorite was the Daily Planet newspaper vending machine. Though I could see myself collecting all of them one day. I did get the cool cup from the picture below. But I’ll have to wait for the Daily Planet bucket. It retailed for $33 according to the Attractions Magazine Facebook page, and now can be found on the second hand market for anywhere from $50 to $80.

Pictured with the Superman collectors cup and the 3 toppers that you could get. Picture courtesy of Attractions Magazine.

#7: The Burn Book for Mean Girls
I’m a fairly recent fan of Mean Girls. I never had anything against the movie, I just never got around to seeing it. That is until my wife corrected that mistake and now I’m a Mean Girls convert. That being said, I still missed the musical theatrical release when it came out. But having not seen the corresponding movie doesn’t stop me from wanting this life size burn book popcorn tin on my shelf. According to Slash Film, this was the cheapest bucket yet, retailing for $19.99. If you wanted one now, you’ll have to be willing to drop anywhere from $25 to $80.

Burn Book is not for burnt popcorn. Picture courtesy of Slash Film

#6: The D20 from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
I wish I bought this one. I really do. I haven’t been part of a D&D campaign in a while, but I do love the game and could totally see myself keeping supplies in this. I would never actually use it as a dice, not because of it’s size, but because it’s design would make it not very reliable. Who knows if the way the lid is cut would make it more prone to roll towards a nat 1 than a nat 20? Did I lose many of you during that explanation? The cool thing about this is that even if you weren’t a fan of the movie, it’s still cool to have as a fan of the game. Also this is a far better vessel for popcorn than Barbie’s car or the Daily Planet vending box. This retailed for $39.99 when the film came out but now you’d have to drop anywhere from $60 to as much as $90.

Fun fact! I just wrote an article for ReelRank News about the status of a sequel to this film! You can find that here if you want to give that a read.

D&D? More like P&C… get it? Pop Corn? Picture courtesy of the AMC website.

#5: The DeLorean from Back to the Future.
Yes, this one has the same problem as Barbie’s convertible. But the reason this one is so much higher on my list is because it’s a truly iconic vehicle. The DeLorean may have been a failed car, but it will live forever in pop culture because of the 1985 classic film. If you care to pop over to the Fandango website you can see that this popcorn bucket is a pretty damn good replica of the DeLorean DMC-12. Yes, the gull wing doors open to show the popcorn compartment and that’s probably not the best way to enjoy the salty theater treat, but let’s be honest, are you really going to use it for popcorn? Or is this going straight on your shelf. This bucket originally went for $49.99 but now goes for anywhere between $80 and $125.

When you put in the 88th piece of popcorn, it disappears. Picture courtesy of Fandango.

#4: Bruce the Shark from Jaws.
Bruce the Shark is one of my favorite Bruces. You can’t ignore Bruce Lee, Bruce Willis, Bruce Campbell, or even Robert the Bruce, but if I had to pick one of them for a popcorn bucket, Bruce the Shark is the best one.

Can we acknowledge that this is not just a great looking container BUT it’s also one of the better ones for actually holding popcorn? And not just that, but the price isn’t bad as far as collectable popcorn buckets go. According to the Fandango website this one will set you back $34.99.

Can’t you see it though? This on your blu-ray or DVD shelf with a copy of Jaws sitting in the gaping maw? That would be sick.

It wants to get chummy with your popcorn. Get it? Chum? Picture courtesy of Fandango.

#3: R2D2 from the 25th Anniversary of Star Wars Ep I: The Phantom Menace.
Don’t get me started on this film or any Star Wars film outside of the original trilogy. Let’s focus on the popcorn bucket. All y’all proved we don’t deserve ANY Star Wars, good or bad. The bandwagon hate for this franchise is so cringey I feel sorry for all those aboard the hate train. What’s it like to forget what fun is?

But I digress, look at this bucket! It’s R2D2! This one is another popcorn bucket that’s not going to be a great container but will look great on your shelf. In this article from Box Office Pro, they mention that this retailed for $49.99, which doesn’t surprise me, but the after market price goes anywhere form $60 to $100+.

R2 is great, but I want a Gonk droid! Picture courtesy of Box Office Pro.

#2: The Enterprise from The Star Trek franchise.
When people ask me the age old question of Star Wars vs Star Trek, I always answer Yes. There’s no reason to pick one. One is a space opera with a touch of fantasy in it and the other is classic sci-fi. But for the purposes of this list, I have a winner. Just look at that bucket! If I’m being pedantic, my favorite Star Trek ship is the Kelvin timeline Enterprise NCC 1701, but this original series replica is gorgeous and perfect for the top of my Blu-ray case. Unfortunately I don’t have the $79.95 plus tax to buy this from the Regal shop right now, but hopefully one day, even if I have to pay double the original cost, it’ll be on display at my house.

To boldly go where no popcorn has gone before. Picture courtesy of the Regal shop.

#1: The Ghost Trap from Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
I love anything Ghostbusters. Yes. I even love the 2016 Paul Feig Ghostbusters film. So when Frozen Empire came out, I knew I had to have this. My wife and I went to a fan screening of the film a few days before release and I was sure to buy this as well as the mini-puft drink container. I actually used both of these for the intended purpose and I’m happy to report that the ghost trap isn’t a bad popcorn bucket. But now here’s the important lesson I learned. This was a sold out screening so I had no where to put my stuff. So I had to watch the whole movie with the ghost trap sitting on my lap and my wife holding onto my drink. But this is still my favorite popcorn bucket because not only does it actually do a good job of being a bucket, but it has easy clean up because of the detachable bowl and you can display the trap either open with the bowl or closed. This was $39.99 and I am my own source for that figure but if you want it now you’ll have to pay anywhere from $30 for the Regal cinemas one that didn’t have the detachable bowl to upwards of $100 for the AMC one.

Picture courtesy ME! This is my popcorn bucket.