Popcorn itself has been part of the human diet for well over 3,000 years - there is evidence of Native Americans eating it at least as long ago as that. The first popcorn machine was invented in 1885 in the US by Charles Cretors. It took about 10 years to get both the machine and the recipe right, but by the early 20th century, when the cinema arrived, machine-made popcorn was already a popular snack.

People began eating it in cinemas from around 1912, but at first they used to go outside and buy it from street sellers. In 1925 the electric popcorn machine was invented by Charles Manley, and these machines were sold to cinema (or movie theater) owners so they could sell their own popcorn inside the building. Popcorn has never been replaced as the cinema's best loved snack - even today, moviegoers usually buy a bag before the film starts.