Everything about the moviegoing experience is merchandisable and long has been. But the rising trend of increasingly complex and elaborate collectible popcorn buckets might have finally reached the apex with Dune: Part Two, which invites you to place your hand in a very different kind of Gom Jabbar test.
Tie-in popcorn buckets, and bucket holders, are nothing new—AMC in particular has made a big to-do over them for highly anticipated movies, like holders in the shape of Ant-Man’s helmet, and, of course, the Barbie Corvette bucket holder. But a new promotion for Dune: Part Two has us… well, a little concerned.
First spotted by YouTube movie critic Cris Parker, the new bucket itself is relatively plain, just featuring the film’s logo and a few emblems of the various factions at play in Dune’s religiopolitical landscape. But it features a special topper, designed in the shape of one of Arrakis’ ginormous sandworms bursting from the surface, inviting you to plunge your hand within its… presumably soft teeth. I mean, just look at it.
It’s a textural and visual nightmare, even before you get to the lewd imagery that is invoked—whether you want it to be or not—of having thrust your hand into the sandworm’s gaping maw. And the teeth. The teeth! It’s so much. No amount of artificial butter-soaked goodness can be worth this sensation, surely. The Bene Gesserit have a new way to test if you can control your instincts, I imagine.
It’s currently unknown just which chain is running the Dune promotion, but whichever it is, their social media teams probably woke up today both ecstatic and horrified by the attention.
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