Regal makes a clever move to compete with AMC | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

While going to the movies will likely always be an activity people enjoy, tearing people away from Netflix and actually getting them to the theater has been a challenge ever since the pandemic.

Before Covid hit the U.S., the movie industry sold well over a million tickets a year. This was when a movie ticket still cost less than $10, which seems like a steal compared to today’s prices.

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But something happened during Covid. As people coped with their fears about the pandemic and were forced to stay home, they connected more deeply than ever to streaming content.

It was nice to simply enjoy movies in your pajamas — and it cost a lot less than paying for overpriced drinks and popcorn at the concession counter.

So despite people flooding out into the world again once vaccines became available and stay-home mandates were removed, the movie industry wasn’t able to regain its footing in quite the same way.

While tickets sold have slowly increased over time, movie theater giants like AMC and Regal have had to come up with new ways to entice people to come back. Now Regal’s made its latest move, and it’s a clever one.

Regal may have outdone itself with its latest promotion.

Image source&colon; Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The saga of the popcorn bucket

AMC was first to start the saga of the collectible popcorn bucket with its R2D2 combo popcorn and drink vessel, which it debuted in 2019 to accompany “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

At $49.99, it was a pricey buy, but when they sold out within 48 hours, AMC realized there was customer demand.

Then in February 2024, the company debuted a “Dune: Part Two” bucket modeled on the mouth of the sandworms from the film. It went viral, and the true war of the popcorn buckets began.

AMC reported that it made a mindblowing $65 million in revenue from the sales of movie-themed merchandise alone, and soon enough, all its competitors were getting in on the craze, trying to outdo one another with even wilder designs.

Now you can find dedicated popcorn bucket pages on Cinemark, AMC, and Regal, as the companies duke it out over who has the best designs.

Regal may have won that battle with its latest offering.

Regal leans on a classic pun

By now, many of you have likely seen the trailer for the reboot of ’80s comedy classic “The Naked Gun,” which hits theaters August 1.

To accompany the release of the new film, Regal has announced a popcorn bucket in the shape of a beaver, which is truly a joke aimed at the fans of the original film.

It riffs on the scene when Lieutenant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) meets Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley) and watches her climb a ladder, looks up her skirt, and says, “Nice beaver,” to which Spencer replies by handing Drebin a taxidermied beaver and saying, “Thanks, I just got it stuffed.”

Since the new puns from the reboot have been limited to the ones shown in the trailer, opting for one of the old classics is a genius move — and one fans seem to like, if the Instagram comments on the bucket are any indication.

“I just started watching the originals and now I need this,” user cjseess wrote.

Regal did not announce a price or a release date for the beaver bucket, but it’s likely to be released alongside the movie.