Movie theater popcorn containers have gotten completely out of control, and I mean that as a compliment. We have shoved popcorn into sandworms, Ghostface heads and enough weird plastic monuments to turn concession stands into miniature Spirit Halloweens. Somehow, the 2026 movie release, Resident Evil, has found a way to make the trend grosser. This is easily the most disgusting popcorn bucket, and I need it immediately.
Regal revealed its collectible for Zach Cregger’s upcoming Resident Evil reboot in an Instagram post, and calling this thing a “popcorn bucket” is technically giving it the wrong medical chart. As you can see in the image below, it is an organ-transplant popcorn bag, designed to look like one of those insulated coolers used to transport something very important from one operating room to another. However, this one is full of popcorn. And a heart. Sort of.
The bag is green and black, with a white medical cross on the front and tiny warnings telling you to “Handle with Care,” “Keep Cool” and “Do Not Freeze.” Open the zipper, and you find a large popcorn nestled around what appears to be a bloody human heart.
Regal, naturally, leaned all the way into it, writing, “Need a transplant? We recommend this popcorn bag.” They also make one crucial clarification in the promotional image: “Heart not included.” Cowards. I have no practical reason to own an insulated organ transplant bag designed to carry movie theater popcorn. I am also positive I need one.
The theater chain's official promotion page confirms the container will be available at select theaters while supplies last. The chain is also offering a Raccoon City Refresher cocktail and an IMAX collectible ticket during opening weekend, but I’m sorry, those things are fighting for second place. The medical cooler has already won.
The design becomes even better once you know what Cregger’s movie is about. Sony describes the new Resident Evil as an original story centered on Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams. One routine delivery sends him outside the safe zone, where his night rapidly collapses into a fight for survival amid a horrifying outbreak.
So somebody did not merely say, “Resident Evil has gore. Put a heart in the popcorn.” The entire collectible is riffing on the main character’s job. That is the kind of deeply unnecessary thematic commitment I appreciate from movie merchandise.
Cregger is also an excellent filmmaker to get this treatment. After Barbarian and Weapons, he has already demonstrated a talent for taking something familiar and making it deeply unpleasant to look at. His Resident Evil is being pitched as a reinvention of Capcom’s horror franchise rather than another continuation of the previous films, with Austin Abrams joined by Zach Cherry, Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser. The movie is rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout, so the human-organ concession stand aesthetic seems appropriately restrained, if anything.
Resident Evil, which I have my money on as one of the best new horror movies of the year, hits theaters September 18, giving me just enough time to accept that I may soon be eating popcorn from medical equipment. Between that sentence and the fake heart, I realize I have done absolutely nothing to make this thing sound appealing. I still want it.
