David Bridges
The popcorn bucket wars simply turned literal with Cinemark’s newest entry for Gladiator II. The theater chain’s new entry just isn’t solely formed just like the Roman colosseum, it performs a cutesy augmented actuality gladiator battle once you level your smartphone at QR code on the underside (AR-ENA, get it?). The butter on the popcorn is Cinemark’s tagline, claiming “you’ll be able to eat warfare.”
In actual fact, all the advert copy is brilliantly tacky: “Each kernel of power, each ounce of honor, is for the glory of Rome. As you preside over this gladiator area, you’ll be able to… eat warfare. End the popcorn and unleash the battle inside. You will be entertained.” Being intoned within the Trustworthy Trailer model takes it up an additional notch.
It is the newest popcorn bucket film merch, following high-profile entries from Dune and Deadpool. We have additionally seen entries for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and others that did not fairly seize the identical zeitgeist.
Certain, you would possibly must wipe off some popcorn grease to learn the Cinemark bucket’s QR code, and the AR animation of two preventing gladiators is paying homage to a PlayStation 2 render. Nonetheless, neither the Dune nor Wolverine buckets boast any interactive options, so the Gladiator II bucket has them beat there — and it is a good approach to rope within the tech press.
Cinemark’s vessel can be plausibly formed like a popcorn bucket with its colosseum type. The identical cannot be stated for Dune‘s sandworm-shaped bucket or Deadpool’s Wolverine head bucket (Dune director Denis Villeneuve known as the latter “horrific” and he is proper). For those who’re trying to develop your assortment, the Gladiator II popcorn bucket will arrive “quickly” and the film itself hits theaters on November 22.
Daniel Mercer
