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Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works.

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Hi brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vocabam and today's

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episode is a brain Stuff classic

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presented by our earthWhile host Christian

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Sagar the question of the day, why

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do movie theaters sell popcorn? Hey,

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brain Stuff? It's Christian Sagar. When

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you see a movie in the theaters, you expect

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certain things like a heck of a good

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time, some amazing sound, and a

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story played out on a gigantic

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screen. You also probably

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think about popcorn. But

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that's weird, right, How of all the snacks

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on Earth did popcorn become

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the mainstay of movie theaters. Well,

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it starts with a bit of history. See, popcorn

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had been around for ages, and it was

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a popular snack at nineteenth century

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fairs and carnivals, especially

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after the invention of the first steam

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powered popcorn pop or back

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in eighty five. People

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love the crunchy, salty, inexpensive

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snack, and movie theaters hated

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it. During the era of silent film,

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these companies followed many of the same rules

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as traditional theaters, and they did not

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want to be associated with a loud food

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that could distract from the show. Additionally,

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there was a little bit of a class consideration

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here, Since audiences had

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to read the dialogue on the screen, they

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had to be literate a k a.

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A better sort of people with superior

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education. Allowing popcorn

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inside was, in the opinion of these

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theater owners, kind of like throwing

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sawdust on the floor and just saying, sure,

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just spit wherever you want. Talkies

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or films with spoken dialogue

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emerged in ninete and this

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brought movie theaters to the common

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folk. Suddenly anyone could cough

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up some change, grab a seat, and understand

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what was going on. This was also the

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time of the Great Depression, when Americans

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from coast coast pined for cheap, escapist

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entertainment. So the average Americans

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finally found the cinema, and they brought

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their snack culture along, and the depression

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affected theaters as well. Theaters

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with the best chances of surviving were

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the ones that gave customers what

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they wanted. If they wanted

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to eat popcorn while watching a film,

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well so be it. At

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first, independent vendors sold popcorn

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outside the theater, profiting from the casual

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passers by as well as future

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movie patrons. Since corn kernels

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were dirt, cheap, popcorn became

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even more popular, and things

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escalated. Movie theaters allowed vendors

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to sell popcorn in the lobby for a small

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fee. Eventually they cut out the vendors

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entirely acquiring their own poppers.

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During World War Two, popcorn sales saw

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another bump. Sugar was rationed,

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which made many conventional sweet snacks

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and drinks more expensive, at

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least that is when they were available at all.

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Popcorn, of course, only required

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salt and popcorn kernels, neither

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of which were hard to come by. But by

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then the association between movies

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and popcorn was firmly established

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in the mind of the American public. This

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association continues today. But

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there's another wrinkle to the story.

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And you might be saying Christian, Okay,

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popcorn was cheap in the depression or

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whatever, But what happened when did it become

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so expensive? Good

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question. The price hike really

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kicked in on all concessions

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back in the nineties seventies. See contrary

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to popular belief, your local movie

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theater doesn't actually make that much

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bank off the films it screens.

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Instead, theaters use concessions

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to stay in business. According to the Stanford

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Business School, concessions comprise only

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about of a theater's gross

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revenue, but of

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its profits. This makes sense

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when we consider how theaters must split

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ticket revenue with distributors,

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but can pocket of

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whatever they managed to sell at the snack

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counter. The bulk cost

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of the ingredients is laughably small,

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and the profit margin is huge, and

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don't forget, the stuff is still

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addictively delicious. Today's

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episode was written by Ben Bolan and produced

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by Tyler Clang. If you enjoy our show

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and want to support us directly check out our online

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store at public dot com slash brainstuff,

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and of course, for more on this and lots of other

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popping topics, visit our home planet,

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how stuff works dot com