Themed popcorn buckets have been gaining popularity as collectibles for years now, first starting as limited release items in theme parks and in recent years growing to most major movie theaters. While most folks have heard of the awkward Dune bucket and the Deadpool and Wolverine offering designed to poke fun at it, the truth is many big movies hit theaters with some sort of popcorn and drink collectible that spans beyond a design wrapped around a standard bucket or cup. This isn’t always an option for smaller movie releases like the upcoming Markiplier-backed Iron Lung, but a partnership with Regal Cinemas lets anyone with a 3D printer to show their support by making and bringing a bucket themed to the film. And, as you can see pictured above, the design is intense.
The rules are simple: If you show up with one of these in hand you get free popcorn on opening weekend. Unfortunately, I have arrived to throw cold water on this plan and urge you to heed a few warnings before you show up ready to eat out of your giant nightmare bucket.
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While this article may seem like I’m pretty down on this idea, the opposite is true. I love the idea behind this promotion and how it engages an audience like Markiplier’s, which is more likely to own some kind of 3D printer, with a ready-made excuse to use it on something like this. With a little bit of polish on the design and some recommendations to the printer on how to ensure it’s safe to use and will remain something that looks nice on a shelf, this is the start of a fun new world of fan-backed nerdy popcorn buckets and more. I’m a fan of that future, once we get past some of these early bumps.
First and foremost, you need to be extremely careful with what you use to print this bucket and how you print it. The most common material used to print things today is polylactic acid, or PLA, which is made using plant starches, mostly from corn, and is what you find on most shelves in electronics stores for 3D printers. While PLA itself is generally considered to be food safe when it’s at room temperature, the printing process and how you choose to use a printed object can dramatically affect how food safe it really is. The mechanical parts of a 3D printer are covered in lubricants to ensure smooth function so it’s impossible to avoid some transfer to the plastic as it takes shape. And I haven’t even mentioned the risks associated with painting this thing before eating out of it, which you should absolutely not do.
Printing can introduce non food safe materials into the plastic.
The way 3D prints come together also introduces some issues with using PLA for food. The individual layers of each print and semi-porous nature of the plastic can hold on to bacteria and make them quite unsafe to eat from if not properly sealed. If you’re thinking you can just wash it, keep in mind this material begins to soften around 120 Farhenheit, which is below the temperature of hot water coming out of most faucets in the US. It’s also right around the temperature of the melted butter on your popcorn when served fresh, which does not mean it will damage the print, but it does introduce bacteria risks when used more than once. You can reduce some of this risk by switching to polyethylene terephthalate glycol filament instead (PETG for short) or invest in some food-safe sealant for the inside of the bucket. I’m a fan of this food-safe sealant from Krowne, but there are plenty of other options out there.
It should also be noted that this bucket wastes a fair bit of material. The design, which is free on Thingiverse, is split into two pieces, and each one is going to take nearly a full $20 to $25 roll of filament to print so you’re not exactly saving any money here (which isn’t the point, but a common misconception that printing is always cheaper). There’s a bottom part with all of the teeth and the Iron Lung branding for the film, and the bloody top half with the Regal logo prominently featured. The top half doesn’t have a bottom, and while there are no instructions telling you to glue these two pieces together it’s likely that’s how a lot of folks who choose to make this will behave. A twist-lock design or a full bottom insert would have been a better idea here.
This inside piece has no bottom but looks a lot like blood.
Both halves of this design have to be printed with supports, and depending on the kind of printer and slicer software you have those supports can quickly become costly. There are a number of thin overhangs that are expensive to support, not to mention how easy it would be to break thinner pieces while cleaning up supports. At a minimum, the teeth could have been designed to print separately to save time and frustration. If you have a printer with multicolor support and only one extruder, the color changes, in addition to the supports, introduce quite a bit of plastic waste. You can certainly paint all of this in one color and paint it yourself, but that will also be rather time-consuming.
Whether you plan to go all out and make your bucket as detailed as possible, or you just want to get free popcorn to enjoy with your film, you’re in for a treat, appropriately themed to the movie. But as companies look for ways to encourage community participation for movies that don’t have massive marketing budgets, hopefully, some of these early issues will be quickly addressed to everyone’s enjoyment.