Popcorn is a modern food but it is known as a movie snack mostly. Settling on a theatre chair or couch with a goodness bucket of popcorn doubles the enjoyment of watching a movie. People love their popcorn with salt, butter, cheese and caramel. Movies and popcorn are interconnected with each other.
By the mid-1800s, popcorn was already a popular snack food which was sold at circuses, fairs and on the streets. There was one place that wasn’t sold at that time, and it was in the movie theatre. In fact, movies hadn’t even been invented then. Even when movies started to become more and more common in the early 1900s, popcorn still hadn’t found its way into movie theatres. In the early days of cinema, movie theatres tried their best to recreate the luxury and authenticity of a traditional theatre. With luxurious seats and carpets like a traditional theatre, eating was not allowed in early movie theatres.
It was the emergence of movies with sound in 1927 that started making cinema accessible to audiences and they wanted to bring their snacks into the theatre with them. The most interesting event was what street vendors did at that time. Street vendors spotted this chance and started selling their popcorn outside movie theatres. Eventually, the cinema owners themselves spotted this as a money-making opportunity and started selling popcorn by themselves.
From the point of view of the cinema owner, it was an interesting idea. Popcorn is cheap to produce on a large scale and no special skills are needed to make it. Also, the tempting smell of cooking popcorn is a more effective intimation than any drawn sign. For the audience, it was ideal for eating while watching a movie too. Because you can eat it with your hands and it won’t distract you from watching.
Popcorn is not eaten in movie theatres nowadays. People enjoy their movies at home with a bucket of popcorn in their hands. It has become a tradition for the masses to eat popcorn while watching movies.
That’s why people eat popcorn while enjoying movies in the theatre and at home. It’s a simple, practical snack that audiences enjoy and that cinema owners can make a large profit from. It took a while to make it into the cinema, but now it’s there, popcorn is something we couldn’t imagine watching a movie without.
