Is AMC’s Refillable Popcorn Bucket worth it?
Hey Americans, there’s nothing better than brainlessly eating while watching something am I right? No matter how much dinner I ate beforehand, if I am seeing a movie at the theater afterwards, I always get the largest-sized popcorn available.
At about $8 per large popcorn, that can get expensive if you’re watching a couple movies a month. The good news is that AMC is giving all us popcorn-addicts a way to save money (while ensuring you’re going to one of their theatres). The largest movie theatre chain has introduced their Refillable Popcorn Bucket. The bottomless popcorn bucket will run AMC Stubs members $20.99 with refills of said bucket at just $4.49 per visit.
The kickers are 1) you have to be an AMC Stubs member to qualify to buy the bucket 2) you have to remember to bring the bucket to the theatre and 3) it’s good through 2018 (12/31/18).
Will You Save Money with AMC’s Popcorn Bucket
So is AMC’s Refillable Popcorn Bucket worth the investment? Yes, if you’re already an AMC Stubs member (so you don’t have to pay the membership fee) and if you’re planning on buying a large popcorn in at least five trips to an AMC theater in 2018.
We reached the magic number of five based off the price of a large popcorn being $8. That’s also taking into consideration that Stubs members get free popcorn upgrades. All considered, you’ll recoup your investment after five visits and really start accumulating money back for every visit thereafter. Check out this chart I created. Yes I created a chart for this.
| Visit | no bucket | no bucket total | with bucket | with bucket total | value of bucket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8 | $8 | $20.99 | $20.99 | ($12.99) |
| 2 | $8 | $16 | $4.49 | $25.48 | ($9.48) |
| 3 | $8 | $24 | $4.49 | $29.97 | ($5.97) |
| 4 | $8 | $32 | $4.49 | $34.46 | ($2.46) |
| 5 | $8 | $40 | $4.49 | $38.95 | $1.05 |
| 6 | $8 | $48 | $4.49 | $43.44 | $4.56 |
| 7 | $8 | $56 | $4.49 | $47.93 | $8.07 |
| 8 | $8 | $64 | $4.49 | $52.42 | $11.58 |
| 9 | $8 | $72 | $4.49 | $56.91 | $15.09 |
| 10 | $8 | $80 | $4.49 | $61.40 | $18.60 |
| 11 | $8 | $88 | $4.49 | $65.89 | $22.11 |
| 12 | $8 | $96 | $4.49 | $70.38 | $25.62 |
| 13 | $8 | $104 | $4.49 | $74.87 | $29.13 |
| 14 | $8 | $112 | $4.49 | $79.36 | $32.64 |
| 15 | $8 | $120 | $4.49 | $83.85 | $36.15 |
| 16 | $8 | $128 | $4.49 | $88.34 | $39.66 |
Just to be clear, you can also get your second bucket refill free on same day visits with valid receipt that you paid the $4.49. So basically, anytime after the fifth trip to the theatre, you’re saving $3.50 each refill. Scaling out the savings, if you went to an AMC threater with a Refillable Bucket in tow sixteen times in 2018, you’ll end up saving $40.
To be exact, if you got a large popcorn every time you went to the movies, that would have cost you $130, but with the unlimited bucket, you would have spent $90. Now is the approximately 1000 calories per bucket worth it? At previews, it seems like it is, but after the closing credits you might be regretting saving $3.50.
In order to get in on the bottomless bucket, signup using this link for an AMC Stubs membership.
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