A plastic cube in the shape of a green dinosaur (not just any green dinosaur, obviously, but one of the protagonists of the million-dollar ‘Super Mario Galaxy’) has generated a secondary market of tens of thousands of euros in one week on Wallapop. The phenomenon, due to saturation, is already subsiding, but it says a lot about how leisure is currently faced… and how there are those who want to take advantage of it.
The phenomenon. ‘Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie arrived in Spain on April 1 and, taking advantage of the holiday season in much of the world, it has grossed $372 million in its first weekend, becoming the biggest box office success of 2026 and the fifth best opening in history for an animated film. The reviews are lukewarm (42% approval on Rotten Tomatoes), but it doesn’t matter. Because much of the attention is going to a plastic cube in the shape of Yoshi.
What is the popcorn maker like? The green dinosaur that accompanies Mario from ‘Super Mario World’ is being distributed as a promotional product for the premiere. In Spain, chains such as Yelmo and Cinesa put it on sale on April 1: 40 euros at the box office, or integrated into a menu with a drink and popcorn for around 20 euros. A figure the size of a bucket of real popcorn, designed above all to decorate and function as a decorative object.
The drama. The problem began when Yelmo confirmed through his Instagram account that buyers could purchase as many units as they wanted with their ticket. The popcorn box sold out in some theaters in less than an hour on the same day the film premiered. Images of people with plenty of Yoshis under their arms or with the trunk of the car filled to bursting with figures circulated on the networks.
Resells itself. Then, the predictable movement: on platforms such as Wallapop or eBay, popcorn boxes began to be resold for hundreds of euros a few hours after the premiere, with some reaching prices as exorbitant as this one of 2,400 euros. However, excess supply and the laws of the most basic capitalism have ultimately meant that most popcorn makers are between 80 and 150 euros (which is still between double and almost quadruple the original Price, less than a week after it went on sale). On AliExpress, meanwhile, you can find the same design, although in many cases they are replicas that, in these cases, cost around 10-20 euros.
The popcorn phenomenon. The phenomenon of these objects has been brewing in the United States for years. AMC launched the first large-scale collectible popcorn in 2019: an R2-D2 for the premiere of ‘Star Wars Episode IX’‘ at $50 a piece that sold out that same night. The industry even has a name for this: collectible concession vessels or CCVs. The viral turning point was the sandworm-shaped cube from ‘Dune: Part 2’, an object so aesthetically discussed that it became the subject of a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch, and was resold on eBay for around $300.
Then came the bucket of ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, which Ryan Reynolds himself was in charge of promoting before the premiere, and with this, the category was established as part of the marketing of any major premiere. The numbers behind the business are revealing: the AMC cinema chain earned $54 million under this concept in 2023. The profit margin on cinema concessions, as some analysts have calculated, exceeds 80% for cinemas.
What Nintendo releases. Nintendo, in this scheme, receives licensing royalties for each unit sold in theaters, which also increases expectations by not launching other notable merchandising products at the premiere (no reissues of the original game, no exclusive Amiibos, no special editions of Switch 2). The fandom focuses on the only novelty item available: the green plastic Yoshi. And the rest is Wallapop.
Image | QuidVacuo
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