Cinemark’s Gladiator II AR-enabled popcorn bucket claims ‘you possibly can eat struggle’

The popcorn bucket wars simply turned literal with Cinemark’s newest entry for Gladiator II. The theater chain’s new entry shouldn’t be solely formed just like the Roman colosseum, it performs a cutesy augmented actuality gladiator battle if 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 possibly can eat struggle.”

In actual fact, the entire 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 enviornment, you possibly can… eat struggle. End the popcorn and unleash the battle inside. You will be entertained.” Being intoned within the Trustworthy Trailer type takes it up an additional notch.

It is the most recent 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 may have to wipe off some popcorn grease to learn the Cinemark bucket’s QR code, and the AR animation of two preventing gladiators is harking back 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 sensible strategy to rope within the tech press.

Cinemark’s vessel can also be plausibly formed like a popcorn bucket with its colosseum kind. The identical cannot be mentioned for Dune‘s sandworm-shaped bucket or Deadpool’s Wolverine head bucket (Dune director Denis Villeneuve referred to as the latter “horrific” and he is proper). When you’re seeking to increase your assortment, the Gladiator II popcorn bucket will arrive “quickly” and the film itself hits theaters on November 22.