Friends, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the 2024 movie schedule truly was the year of the popcorn bucket. And just when I thought we’d seen our final surprise with that gothic Nosferatu popcorn bucket, Disney came in to surprise us all.
I certainly didn’t have a Mufasa: The Lion King replica of Pride Rock on my metaphorical bingo card, but I’ll still thank the once and future king for making it happen anyway. What is arguably the central location of The Lion King’s mythos is now yours to take home from the movies.
Before you wonder if this announcement is as top secret as that forthcoming Mission: Impossible 8 popcorn bucket, fear not! You can feast your eyes on this future snack vessel, thanks to the tweet below:
Hakuna Ma-collect-these! 🦁✨Pounce on the opportunity to grab our Pride Rock popcorn container, dome lid collector cup, blanket with pillow pouch, and #Mufasa and Taka popcorn tins. 🎟️️: https://t.co/g8PNH2kHi3 pic.twitter.com/vTIMxaNgiQDecember 2, 2024
Oh my Pride Rock! As if we didn’t have enough royalty present on the market with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’s war hammer replica, this beauty comes along. And admittedly, making a replica of The Lion King’s ancestral home for Mufasa is probably the best option that could have been done. I don’t think kids would want a bucket in which the young protagonist of Barry Jenkins’ upcoming Disney movie has a head you can open up to store popcorn.
Now I’m sure there are some smart alecks out there who are wondering what I could possibly be afraid of with this concession stand collectable. And to those people, I’d like to give a hearty thanks for remembering that time those Alien: Romulus popcorn buckets both thrilled me and creeped me out. To answer your question, I’m not afraid of Pride Rock as a popcorn bucket.
What I am afraid of is that I’ll run out of napkins all the quicker when seeing Mufasa: The Lion King, as I’ll need them to clean butter off my hands and tears from my eyes. That’s especially valid when you see that another offering in this collection are popcorn tins with Mufasa and Taka, the lion soon to be known as Scar, displayed on them.
Side note: every time I hear the line “I always wanted a brother” in the Mufasa trailer, it always breaks my heart. I mean, look at these two:
Oh yeah, we’re all gonna feel it right in our hearts when these two fall out. So if anyone else is ready for a heartbreak similar to The Fox and the Hound, but with more Shakespearian influences, then you won’t have to wait long. You can see Mufasa: The Lion King take its place in theaters on December 19th, and in a variety of premium formats.
But if you want to break your heart all over again with the royal drama at Pride Rock, you can always use your Disney+ subscription to warm up those tear ducts. That’s because both the original animated version of The Lion King, and its debatably live-action remake, are both available to stream on that very platform. Consider it a vital stop in the circle of life in the Disney Vault.