AMC’s $20-30 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Cocktail Needs More Spirit

According to the Hollywood Reporter, a promotional Beetlejuice Beetlejuice drink offered at AMC Theatres boasting an attached MacGuffin’s bar could set you back as much as $31, depending on your state’s liquor taxing laws.

The 24-ounce “Sandworm Slayer” cocktail is described as “a mix of blue and black raspberry” juice on the rocks, “matched with [an undisclosed] premium vodka.” The drink is topped with six sour gummy worms (likely Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers) and served in a plastic cup, if you plan on bringing the concoction into a theater. Here’s what it looks like, as delivered:

I bought the AMC BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE themed drink. It cost $31 dollars… pic.twitter.com/xSHnCuo60D

— Andrew Woods (@JimJarmuschHair) September 8, 2024

As the outlet notes, the blue drink generally retails for the comparatively modest, yet somehow still ghastly price of $21. The unfortunate customer above happened to purchase his Sandworm Slayer in the state of Illinois, which “bumped the drink’s price to $28.25, plus tax.”

For its cost, many have noted the cocktail (even if it tasted incredible, which seems rather dubious) is visually underwhelming, making little effort to evoke Tim Burton’s film in either theme or presentation. First of all, why is it blue? Similar to Beetlejuice himself, the Sandworms are black-and-white striped annelids with a pair of red eyespots and two sets of green-tinged lips. There are several ways to represent this as a visually striking cocktail almost worth the $20-30 price point.

For one, a layered cocktail—black syrup with a white liqueur to evoke the creature’s flesh, served with two maraschino cherries for the eyespots. Rim a tall glass with green sugar, and your drink already takes on the basic appearance of a sandworm. If that’s too difficult, offering a black-and-white striped straw with your cocktail would go miles. Make the drink a green one instead of blue, and you’re already more Beetlejuice-forward than AMC’s confusing Sandworm Slayer. Hell, you can even represent represent the worm’s true head with an additional bomb shot. Not to mention what could be done with a drink meant to evoke Lydia’s iconic red wedding dress, or the first film’s surreal “Day-O” musical number.

The disappointment AMC’s absurdly expensive tie-in drink evokes isn’t so much capitalism run amok, as it is a failure of creativity on the theater chain’s part. As the company had a recent brush with death, itself, you’d think it’d be more contemplative of matters pertaining to the grave. Or at least alcohol.

Have you tried the Sandworm Slayer? Would you try it? Let us know in the comments below.

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