Cinema Foundation and Fandango Team Up For National Popcorn Day

Those going to the movies on January 19 might want to bring an extra pack of Tums

To paraphrase Spaceballs, concessions, concessions, concessions… where the real money from the movies is made. It’s no secret that theaters get much of their profit not from the $10 movie ticket (half of which generally goes back to the studio) but from the $7-$20 popcorn, sodas, hot dogs and various other food items. As such, the Cinema Foundation, in partnership with Fandango, announced the arrival of National Popcorn Day, coming to a theater near you on Friday, January 19th. 

Those showing up to see what’s honestly a pretty packed slate of theatrical offerings (big flicks like Wonka and award season gems like Poor Things) will get… (checks notes) discounted concession prices, free popcorn with the purchase of a drink and other unspecified promotions at participating multiplexes. For individual offers (like AMC offering a Loungefly crossbody bag for $80), go check out your local theater’s website or Fandango.  

“Popcorn at the movies was first introduced 95 years ago, and it’s been an inseparable part of the moviegoing experience ever since,” says Bryan Braunlich, Executive Director of The Cinema Foundation. “National Popcorn Day will bring together millions of film fans of all ages to watch new movies on the big screen while enjoying their favorite theater snacks at discounted prices.”

Both in terms of watching my figure and avoiding old-man stomach pains (possibly IBS?), I try to limit myself accordingly. I quite like AMC’s $7 “kids combo,” which offers a very small batch of popcorn alongside a comparatively small (but refillable) beverage (cherry Mr. Pibb Zero, one of the few times I opt for a conventional branded soda) and a tiny little fruit snack pack.

I do wish Regal had something comparable, but I digress. The Woodland Hills AMC 12 lets you upgrade the candy, and… it’s a good thing my local AMC doesn’t let you upgrade the candy (I’m weak, and the Kit Kats are *right there*). Otherwise, I’m quite fond of the surprisingly high-quality salads found at Studio Movie Grill (the strawberry avocado salad) and Cinepolis (the avocado ceasar).

No, one doesn’t make friends with salad, but A) I don’t go to the movies to make friends and B) it’s nice leaving the multiplex without worrying about having a rumbly tummy for the next 12 hours.

According to the National Association of Concessionaires, popcorn is the American moviegoers’ favorite snack food and represents 60% of snack food sales at U.S. theaters. So sayeth a 6,000-person survey from Fandango, 94% have purchased concessions on their trips to the theater while 88% say they order popcorn regularly. That’s encouraging for the above-noted “theaters like money” reasons.

I’ve long argued that multiplexes should find a way to essentially comp kids' tickets to kids' flicks like Migration or Wonka in exchange for “what you paid for those tickets in concession sales.” The prospect of taking a family of five to Wish or Migration might be a little less financially daunting if a few of the tickets were going to get comped in exchange for the concessions that their kids were already going to badger them to buy anyway. And since those snacks are where the real profit comes from anyway, I have to imagine there’s a situation where the math works in everyone’s favor.

Oh, beyond the in-play theatricals like The Beekeeper (which earned $2.4 million on Thursday night pointing toward a rock-solid $15-$20 million MLK weekend launch), Mean Girls (which earned $3.25 million on Thursday pointing toward a possible $30 million Fri-Mon launch) and The Book of Clarence (Jeymes Samuel’s offbeat and agreeably pulpy religious dramedy earned $285,000 yesterday), Chris Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be reissued into wide release on the 19th. That’s nice since, uh… there’s not much in terms of “big” commercial wide releases (quality of Ava DuVernay’s Origin opening, next Friday, notwithstanding) for the rest of the month.