Wow, what a task... I don't envy you. Just to throw in my 2 cts worth, I think you should make custom bump maps (to emulate the ripples in the film), then apply those maps to the entire side of the palette/stack of boxes. You might need to make one map for each 'side' of the stacked boxes. If your really keen you could make corresponding opacity maps that would simulate it being less transparent in places where the film has been wrapped multiple times. And as Thomas said, make sure you offset your 'film' geometry from your 'boxes' geometry.
Good luck