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Is this the end for popcorn? Cinemas ban the 'noisy, messy' snack
Daily Mail
By Liz Thomas
Last updated at 10:25 AM on 11th August 2008
Salted, sugar-coated or dripping in butter, it has been a staple for cinema-goers for decades.
Popcorn is an integral part of the cinema experience -
but for how much longer?
But now it seems the days when movie fans can grab a bucket of popcorn and munch through a film are numbered.
The snack has been slammed for being smelly, messy and downmarket, prompting an increasing number of cinema chains to ban it.
From next month, the country's largest art house chain will introduce popcorn-free screenings.
'Popcorn is a contentious issue. Lots of people absolutely hate it and have asked us to ban it, so we're going to do exactly that,' said Gabriel Swartland, head of media at the Picturehouse Cinema.
If this proves a success then the firm, which owns 19 cinemas across the country, will issue a blanket ban.
Other small chains are adopting a similar strategy in a bid to tap into an upmarket audience.
Daniel Broch, owner of the renowned Everyman Cinema Club, said that he is aiming to provide a more sophisticated service for cinema-goers.
He has already banned popcorn from his 17-venue empire, instead offering made-to-order canapes and a waiter service.
He vowed: 'I will de-popcorn every new venue I acquire. It has a disproportionate influence on the space in terms of its overwhelming smell, the cultural idea of it and the operational problems created by the mess it produces.'
The company brochure even features an endorsement from Sir Paul McCartney describing it as 'too posh for popcorn'.
Nicolas Kent, artistic director of the award-winning Tricycle cinema and theatre in London, added: 'Popcorn is horrible stuff and I won't have it anywhere near my cinema.
'It's a form of junk food and that encourages junk entertainment. Its smell is all-pervasive, it makes huge amounts of mess, and it distracts and annoys people intensely.'
Popcorn is the most profitable thing sold at the cinema, with a bucket costing £4. It is estimated that the mark-up is as much as 10,000 per cent.
Depending on its price, it can yield more than 90p on every £1 sold. It also, conveniently, makes customers – a captive market – thirsty for drinks.
In 2002, the British Film Institute described the corn kernel as 'the most profitable substance on the planet, more than heroin, more than plutonium'.
The actual popcorn costs less to produce than the cardboard container it comes in.
For this reason, it is unlikely that the multiplex cinema chains will follow suit with a blanket ban, but instead will watch to see if the smaller firms can make a success of the alternative strategy and then implement a more selective version.
Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association, said: 'Cinema audiences have remained static for the last five years, at about 170million admissions a year. These new-style cinemas are quite rightly seeking to draw in new audiences by transforming the cinema experience.
'I would expect that, if this pilot trial is a success, it is something the bigger screens will inevitably look at introducing themselves. Not as an overriding policy, but in the same way they have done with other select screenings.'
Daily Mail
By Liz Thomas
Last updated at 10:25 AM on 11th August 2008
Salted, sugar-coated or dripping in butter, it has been a staple for cinema-goers for decades.
Popcorn is an integral part of the cinema experience -
but for how much longer?
But now it seems the days when movie fans can grab a bucket of popcorn and munch through a film are numbered.
The snack has been slammed for being smelly, messy and downmarket, prompting an increasing number of cinema chains to ban it.
From next month, the country's largest art house chain will introduce popcorn-free screenings.
'Popcorn is a contentious issue. Lots of people absolutely hate it and have asked us to ban it, so we're going to do exactly that,' said Gabriel Swartland, head of media at the Picturehouse Cinema.
If this proves a success then the firm, which owns 19 cinemas across the country, will issue a blanket ban.
Other small chains are adopting a similar strategy in a bid to tap into an upmarket audience.
Daniel Broch, owner of the renowned Everyman Cinema Club, said that he is aiming to provide a more sophisticated service for cinema-goers.
He has already banned popcorn from his 17-venue empire, instead offering made-to-order canapes and a waiter service.
He vowed: 'I will de-popcorn every new venue I acquire. It has a disproportionate influence on the space in terms of its overwhelming smell, the cultural idea of it and the operational problems created by the mess it produces.'
The company brochure even features an endorsement from Sir Paul McCartney describing it as 'too posh for popcorn'.
Nicolas Kent, artistic director of the award-winning Tricycle cinema and theatre in London, added: 'Popcorn is horrible stuff and I won't have it anywhere near my cinema.
'It's a form of junk food and that encourages junk entertainment. Its smell is all-pervasive, it makes huge amounts of mess, and it distracts and annoys people intensely.'
Popcorn is the most profitable thing sold at the cinema, with a bucket costing £4. It is estimated that the mark-up is as much as 10,000 per cent.
Depending on its price, it can yield more than 90p on every £1 sold. It also, conveniently, makes customers – a captive market – thirsty for drinks.
In 2002, the British Film Institute described the corn kernel as 'the most profitable substance on the planet, more than heroin, more than plutonium'.
The actual popcorn costs less to produce than the cardboard container it comes in.
For this reason, it is unlikely that the multiplex cinema chains will follow suit with a blanket ban, but instead will watch to see if the smaller firms can make a success of the alternative strategy and then implement a more selective version.
Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association, said: 'Cinema audiences have remained static for the last five years, at about 170million admissions a year. These new-style cinemas are quite rightly seeking to draw in new audiences by transforming the cinema experience.
'I would expect that, if this pilot trial is a success, it is something the bigger screens will inevitably look at introducing themselves. Not as an overriding policy, but in the same way they have done with other select screenings.'
