Novelty popcorn buckets are a real hit-or-miss trend, with many being so clumsily aggressive as pure marketing for whatever film they’re themed around that the actual utility for holding the salty, buttery goodness of your favorite theater’s popcorn falls by the wayside. But now and then, something interesting pops up and you see why movie studios are investing in these buckets of popcorn. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is heading to theaters this weekend, and the magic-based crime drama has one of the better popcorn buckets I’ve seen lately, both because it’s actually practical as a popcorn bucket, and because it manages to capture the spirit of the movie without just being a replica of a character or item in the film.
At a glance, the bucket looks like a pretty standard box with the Now You Don’t poster on the sides. However, it also uses an optical illusion to make it look as if the popcorn disappears, like it would in a magic trick. There’s a hidden compartment that helps sell the trick, and if you’re looking at it from the right angle, it does truly look like the kind of illusion you’d see in a magician’s stage show.
Like most optical illusions, if you know the secret, your eyes will probably adapt and see the truth, but it is still a pretty cool popcorn bucket that doesn’t just feel like an elaborate collectible statue with a popcorn-shaped hole on the side. The next question is: Is it worth going to see Now You See Me: Now You Don’t to get it? Eh. Despite the series’ stacked cast and neat premise of magic-based heists, they’ve never really gotten much critical acclaim. Now You Don’t is sitting at a series high on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes with a 60 percent approval rating. So I guess they’re getting better?
