Bucket or Chuck It? is a series in which staff writer Rebecca Alter reviews the latest promotional popcorn buckets. You can watch her full hands-on demo on TikTok. For a breakdown of her score, read on.
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the … butter? The sequel to last year’s Wicked is finally in theaters, and with it come follow-up promotional-popcorn buckets. In true Wicked megamerchandising fashion, multiple buckets have been released, but by far the most thrillifying is Regal’s Wicked: For Good music box, which marks a milestone in popcorn-bucket technology: It plays music! Will this be a totally fine and unobtrusive part of the moviegoing experience or a What technological hell hath we wrought? crossing of the bucket rubicon?
Assessing the appearance of the bucket based on creativity, attention to detail, and how willing a person would be to put their hand inside it.
I see a lot of buckets molded into all manner of fantastical shapes in this line of work, so I appreciate the elegant simplicity of this one as a deceptively ornate little box. Yes, it’s plasticky, but inlaid in the plastic are all kinds of flourishes that tie into motifs from the movie: tiaras and flowers for Glinda; witch hats and leaves for Elphaba; a big round “Oz” insignia on the back. Instead of going with the obvious and overdone pink and green, the box is teal and purple, which is a very nostalgic ’90s-Disney-princess color scheme. Pink and green still show up in some decals: Glinda’s wand and Elphaba’s broom on top and an intertwined G-and-E monogram on the front, which I read as Gelphie fan service. I like that it has little legs instead of sitting flat.
Pop open the lid and it’s a working music box with a small mirror behind little figurines of Glinda and Elphaba with charmingly crappy-painted smiley faces. Wind the little metal crank on the back and they spin while the music box plays a slow, tinkly horror-trailer-core version of “For Good.” Considering that Wicked: For Good is a musical, and that so much of it centers around the Wizard and all of his little Tinkertoys, a music-box bucket just makes so much conceptual sense. And I want to put my hand in it because my friends Glinda and Elphaba are in there, and it looks a bit like a treasure chest.
Score: 5 out of 5
Testing the effectiveness and durability of the bucket’s movable features and determining how easily popcorn can be accessed while a person is seated in the theater.
To quote one of my favorite bonkers Stephen Schwartzisms from Wicked, “Sure I meant well, well, look at what well-meant did!” Because yeah, the idea of a music-box popcorn bucket is fun and innovative and makes sense for the material. But the reality of a music-box popcorn bucket is that its music-boxiness completely undermines and impedes its primary function, which is being a bucket that you eat popcorn out of in a movie theater. These things are noisy — sometimes uncontrollably so! Even if you think that the music box has run out of steam, movements like jostling the box or even just opening the lid sometimes lead to it unexpectedly making more noise. Imagine 20 of these little music boxes firing off at intermittent points throughout a screening of Wicked: For Good. Maybe this is why most popcorn buckets don’t have audio.
Score: 2 out of 5
How much popcorn fits in the bucket?
The box can hold ten cups, or a small-size popcorn. Wicked: For Good is a family movie, and this music box seems like it’s aimed at kids, so it gets a passing grade from me.
Score: 3 out of 5
Judging whether the creativity, quality, and keepsake potential of the bucket align with its price tag.
The Wicked: For Good music-box popcorn bucket weighs in at $49.95, a price that includes a large popcorn. This is expensive, but so are all of these popcorn buckets, and this one has more reuse value than most as a roomy little chest for storing little treasures. I will note that Elphaba’s hand and broom immediately snapped off upon opening the box, so it is not the highest quality construction, but the music-crank mechanism is sturdy.
Score: 3 out of 5
Final score: 13 out of 20
We live in a world that is drowning in endless Wicked merch, and I do believe that this music/popcorn box stands out for its unique concept and color scheme. Of the many, many buckets we have in the Vulture Popcorn Laboratories, this is one of only two (along with the Naked Gun beaver) that I want to take home.
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