A blue drink in a generic plastic cup to enjoy at the movies? That'll be $31, please!
A Beetle Juice Beetle Juice AMC Theatres' promotional drink is getting attention on social media for its seemingly exorbitant price tag. The concoction is the Sandworm Slayer, a special drink garnished with some gummy worms.
“No, Beetlejuice should have shown up and brought me my drink for that price,” one commenter responded, while another sarcastically said, “You could have bought 6 shares of AMC Theatres with that $31, not sure what it would have been worth.”
However, there is some context to all of this, which takes at least some of the fun out of it.
First off, this is a 24-ounce cocktail made with blue and black raspberry juice and “premium vodka” (we’re skeptical of the “premium” part, but that’s what the press release says). So this isn’t just any 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 did research on this!) the price at 92 percent of AMC locations is $21 plus tax. The above drink was apparently purchased in Illinois, which has some unique alcohol pricing laws that we won’t bore you with, which increased the price of the drink to $28.25, plus tax.
So if you go to one of the 8 percent of AMC theaters in Illinois and pick up the 24-ounce version of Sandworm Slayer, you can also get a fizzy drink in a plastic cup filled with ice for a total cost of about $31. (Since they’re sold at AMC’s MacGuffins bar, you might as well tip generously—come on, let’s bring this blue juice down to $40!)
However, the resulting drink looks a little less exciting than the promotional photo, but that's true:
AMC adds that the drink, “like many other movie-related beverages, is very popular on the AMC circuit and sold very well over the weekend.” In fact, drink a couple and you'll forget how many times you've said “Beetlejuice.”