You asked:
Why is popcorn popular to eat while watching movies? — Natthaphol, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Marshall Brain Answered:
Popcorn at the movies is one of those strange associations people have. For example, most people do not roast turkeys except at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just try to buy a whole turkey in June – they are nearly impossible to find. And cranberry sauce – who would ever eat it except at Thanksgiving? There is a powerful association between turkey and cranberry sauce and Thanksgiving. Another association is hamburgers and french fries. They have been linked together permanently in our brains.

And so it is with popcorn and movie theaters. It appears that the association occurred in the United States during the Great Depression. Movie theaters were providing a means of escape, and they weren’t super-expensive. Since television hadn’t been invented yet, movie theaters were acting like a big television set. And people needed an inexpensive snack to eat during a cheap movie. Popcorn met the requirements by being very cheap to make. It is also fun to eat.

Movie theaters could also make a lot of money from popcorn because it was so cheap to make. In fact, popcorn is practically free to make once you buy a popcorn popper. Yet people are willing to pay for popcorn. So every movie theater in the country installed a popcorn machine and it boosted theater profits substantially. There are very few products that have the profit margin of popcorn.

Once the association was made, the rest is history.

It is also funny to realize that about the time the VCR brought movies into the home, the microwave oven became popular and microwave popcorn made home popcorn a lot easier. That only strengthened the association.