Movie theatres are horsing around with fans.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is coming to theaters on July 17, and to excite moviegoers, they’ve released a Trojan Horse Popcorn Bucket that requires customers to open a secret hatch on the horse to access their popcorn.
The location of the hatch is sparking funny commentary on social media. “Why is it in a dick pouch?” commented an X user on the announcement post for the bucket.
Turning to souvenir popcorn buckets and movie merchandise is a smart way to incentivize people to actually go to the movies in the world of streaming.
The popcorn bucket prop phenomenon is the latest — and wildly successful — trend in novelty concessions to bait fans. Past popcorn pushes have featured the designer-esque handbag for “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” the $65 corvette popcorn vessel for “Barbie” and the “Mission: Impossible” bucket that needed a key to unlock.
The moviegoer swag market has skyrocketed since the inception of collectible popcorn buckets, as AMC recorded sales of over to over $54 million annually in the mid-2020s — compared to their reportedly $0 revenue in 2018, Time reported in November 2025.
However, a plastic horse with a popcorn pouch that is inconvenient to eat out of may not be the solution for moviegoers.
“Amazing. Now release the cyclops face bucket where I can eat out of the eyeball,” another X user wrote.
The bucket will be available in-theater at Regal, AMC and Cinemark locations. The Trojan Horse bucket is the second collectible for the film, the first being the IMAX Film Camera Popcorn Bucket, which sold out on its first day.
Commenters are not only criticizing the bucket’s design, but also the size. “Smallest popcorn content of all time,” one Instagram user wrote in the comments of the bucket-reveal post. And someone on X asked, “What is this? A popcorn bucker for ants??”
The Trojan Horse is an iconic object in the story of “The Odyssey,” as the Greeks constructed a giant wooden horse, hid soldiers inside and presented it as a gift to Troy, whose citizens did not know who was inside. Instead of hiding soldiers, this wooden horse conceals your popcorn so you don’t spill any in the theater.
“You open it and a small army of tiny men run out and stab you,” another Instagram user joked.
Others are saying that “Homer is rolling in his grave” and “the placement of the hole is interesting, to say the least.”
But there are always super-fans who are willing to buy any collectible, and Homer enthusiasts are excited to eat their popcorn out of the Trojan Horse on opening night. “Do I have room for more buckets? No. Will I be getting this one though? ofc,” one fan wrote on Instagram.
“NOW THIS IS A POPCORN BUCKET,” wrote another.
The Trojan Horse has become the key marketing symbol for the movie, with a humongous horse displayed in Venice Beach, CA.
With a star-studded cast of Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, the film already has lots of buzz surrounding it. With Oppenheimer, Interstellar, The Dark Knight and Memento just being some of the movies in Nolan’s filmography, the hype surrounding this upcoming film is predictable.
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