Regal’s New ‘Resident Evil’ Popcorn Bucket Is Actually a Bag, and It’s Perfectly Unhinged

Movie theaters have leaned hard into elaborate popcorn buckets as a marketing tool over the past few years, turning promotional merchandise into its own strange corner of internet culture. Studios have gotten increasingly creative with these tie-in collectibles, sometimes generating more online buzz than the actual trailers themselves.

Zach Cregger’s upcoming reimagining of the beloved horror franchise has already built plenty of anticipation heading into its theatrical release, thanks largely to the director’s growing reputation following ‘Barbarian’ and ‘Weapons.’ With tickets now on sale ahead of the film’s September 18 debut, Regal has unveiled its own contribution to the promotional rollout, and it’s exactly as gleefully macabre as fans of Cregger’s work might expect.

Rather than a traditional popcorn bucket, Regal is offering moviegoers the “Organ Transplant Popcorn Bag” when they see ‘Resident Evil’ in theaters. The green medical-style cooler bag comes filled with a large popcorn, and per the packaging itself, the heart is notably not included, a fitting bit of dark humor given the film’s plot.

That organ delivery theme lines up directly with the movie’s central premise. ‘Resident Evil’ follows Bryan, played by Austin Abrams, a medical courier tasked with transporting a transplant organ to Raccoon City General Hospital on a snowy, chaotic night that spirals into a fight for survival once an outbreak begins to unfold around him.

Unlike previous ‘Resident Evil’ film adaptations, which leaned heavily on ensemble casts built around the franchise’s established video game characters, Cregger’s version deliberately breaks from that formula. The story instead follows Bryan as its sole central protagonist, taking place during an alternate version of the events depicted in ‘Resident Evil 2,’ without involving any of the games’ iconic characters directly.

The supporting cast rounds out with Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser, and Johnno Wilson playing various Umbrella Corporation scientists and enforcers who cross paths with Bryan throughout his increasingly nightmarish night. Cregger co-wrote the screenplay alongside Shay Hatten, aiming to stay faithful to the franchise’s established lore while telling an entirely original story within that world.

Advance screenings have already generated some encouraging early buzz, with attendees describing the film’s opening stretch as fast-paced and tonally consistent with Cregger’s signature blend of horror and dark comedy. That combination of genuine scares and self-aware humor appears to extend into the film’s marketing as well, with the Organ Transplant Popcorn Bag serving as a perfect encapsulation of that tone.

Beyond the standard theatrical release, ‘Resident Evil’ is also getting the full premium treatment, with new posters confirming IMAX, ScreenX, and 4DX formats all available for the film’s opening weekend. That kind of expansive rollout signals real confidence from Sony and Constantin Film in the project’s potential box office draw.

For a franchise that’s had a famously rocky history translating from video game to screen, Cregger’s reinvention appears to be generating exactly the kind of internet chatter studios hope for ahead of a major release, even if some of that buzz is currently centered on novelty popcorn packaging rather than the trailer itself.

With tickets already available and the film’s September 18 release date rapidly approaching, fans eager to see how Cregger’s vision holds up against the franchise’s legacy won’t have much longer to wait, organ transplant bag in hand.

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