Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened in theaters last weekend. Mr. Rosie and I saw it on Sunday. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll give my quick thoughts on it below, keeping them as vague as possible.
To celebrate the movie’s opening, several movie theater chains did one of those promotions where they sell tie-in merch in their concessions stands. For instance, Regal had popcorn containers in the shape of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and Cinemark had drink containers shaped like Bob’s shrunken head. AMC took it one step further and sold a crazy 24 oz cocktail called the “Sandworm Slayer.” The Sandworm Slayer is blue and black raspberry juice mixed with vodka and topped with gummy worms. That may sound crazy, but that’s not the kicker here. The drink went viral because, depending on where you live, it costs somewhere between $21 and $31. Yes, $31! For that kind of cost, it better be Belvedere or Gray Goose in that drink, my goodness.
A Beetlejuice Beetlejuice promotional drink at AMC Theatres‘ is getting attention on social media for its seemingly exorbitant price. The concoction is the Sandworm Slayer, a specialty drink topped with some gummy worms.
“Naw Beetlejuice would’ve had to show up and bring me my drink for that price,” replied one commenter, while another snarked, “You could have bought 6 shares of AMC Theatres stock with that $31, not sure which one would have been worth the price.”
There is some context to this, however, which takes at least some of the fun out of it.
First, this is a 24-ounce cocktail made with blue and black raspberry juice and “premium vodka” (we’re skeptical about the “premium” part, but that’s what the press release says). So this is not just some blue soda.
Second, the usual price for the Sandworm Slayer is a hefty-but-more-reasonable $21. According to AMC’s internal research — yes, they researched this question! — the price at 92 percent of AMC locations is $21 plus tax. AMC notes the drink was apparently purchased in Illinois, which has some unique liquor pricing laws that we won’t bore you with, which bumped the drink’s price to $28.25, plus tax.
Thus, if you’re going to one of the 8 percent of AMC theaters that are located in Illinois and opt for the 24-ounce version of Sandworm Slayer, you can also get a vibrant drink in an ice-filled plastic cup for an all-in cost of around $31. (Given these are sold at AMC’s MacGuffins bar, one wonders if you can also add a generous tip — c’mon, let’s get this blue juice up to $40!)
Still, the resulting drink does look a bit less exciting than the promotional photo for the drink, but you can say that about everything:
AMC adds that the drink, “like so many of our movie-tie-in drinks, is wildly popular across the AMC circuit and sold very well during the weekend.” Indeed, chug a couple of these and you’ll forget how many times you said “Beetlejuice.”
Update: The viral $31 Sandworm Slayer was apparently purchased in California, not Illinois, so the plot thickens.
That is crazy! We’ve bought a few of the specialty merch things before, like a Slimer popcorn bowl for Ghostbusters: Afterlife and that cool Infinity Rings drink holder when Avengers: Endgame came out, but I would never pay that much money for an adult beverage at a movie theater, or, to be fair, anywhere else if I could avoid it. The drink also doesn’t look very appealing. That said, putting together some sort of drink like this one would be a cool little offering for a Halloween house party, like a punch with gummy worms in it or something spooky/creative like that.
As for the movie itself, it is absolutely batsh-t bonkers in the best way possible and you can tell that everyone in the cast was having an absolute blast filming it. Jenna Ortega fit right in and I really liked the more mature relationship between Lydia and Delia. While watching, I had made mental notes of certain clues that foreshadowed the plot twist, but assumed that it would culminate in a different way, so I completely didn’t see it coming. I also died laughing during the dream sequence in the church. There was one storyline that they could have cut out and saved for a third movie, but otherwise, we thought that it was a really fun, off-the-walls movie. It is more graphic than the first one, though, and not for kids under age 12 or 13.
This is what was in this fucked up thing pic.twitter.com/6cA4VgRMA8
— Andrew Woods (@JimJarmuschHair) September 8, 2024
Photos credit: Phil Lewis / Wenn / Avalon, Cat Morley / Avalon, James Warren / Bang Showbiz / Avalon