“Did you know that popcorn is among the healthiest—and tastiest—snacks around?” asks the Web site of the Popcorn Board, an industry group. “Its a whole grain
Maybe thats one reason people fork over $4 to $8 for a bag or tub of popcorn when they enter a movie theater. It sounds like theyre munching on a stalk of broccoli, for goodness sakes.
Turns out the Popcorn Board is right…if youre talking low-fat popcorn or (fat-free) air-popped. Eating a tub of movie theater popcorn is more like eating an 8 oz. bag of potato chips, and thats assuming your theater pops in the best oil available and you get it without the “buttery” topping.
Heres what we found when we sent samples of popcorn and toppings from the three largest theater chains to an independent lab for analysis. (Each gave us nutrition facts for its popcorn. But just to be sure, we analyzed samples from three different theaters for each chain. For two of the chains—Regal and AMC—we went to theaters in the Washington, D.C., area. For Cinemark, our samples came from Texas, Illinois, and Maryland.)
With 548 theaters in 39 states plus the District of Columbia, Regal is the largest chain in the United States. It pops in coconut oil, which is 90 percent saturated. (In contrast, lard is 40 percent saturated.)
Translation: A “small” popcorn (thats about 11 cups worth) with no buttery topping has 34 grams of saturated fat. So even if you split it with a friend (unlikely), you each get nearly a days worth of artery paste. And it gets worse from there.
A “medium” (20 cups) or a “large” (also 20 cups) has 60 grams of sat fat. Of course, a large means a free refill (Yay!), so theres no limit to the damage you can do.
Just kidding. It takes years to clog those arteries…and years for your blood pressure to respond to the salt shock (550 milligrams of sodium—a third of a days worth—for a small and 980 mg for a medium or large).
The calories, on the other hand, may show up much sooner…and where you least want them.
Budget 670 for a small and 1,200 for a medium or large. You could think of each small as a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza and each medium or large as two. But the two pizzas pack “only” a days worth of sat fat—nowhere near the three days worth in a medium or large popcorn.
How can a medium and large at Regal each hold the same 20 cups of popcorn?
Simple. The taller medium comes in a bag with straight sides, while the squatter large comes in a tapered tub thats wider at the top (see photo). The tub sure looks like it holds more. Other than for the free refill (shudder), why else would moviegoers pay $8 for a large (a medium is $7)?
Another oopsy-daisy: According to Regal, a medium has 720 calories, while a large has 960 calories. Both are lower than our lab results. Oh well. Whats an xtra 200 to 500 calories when your snack hovers around the 1,000-calorie mark? They dont call them tubs for nothing.
Toppings: For customers who think plain popcorn isnt soaked in enough oil, Regal offers a “buttery” topping. According to Regal and the topping manufacturer, it adds 130 calories to a small, 200 calories to a medium, and 260 calories to a large.
We analyzed the topping to make sure that it had no trans fat. But we didnt check to see how much topping the concession staff at Regal—or any other chain—adds. Odds are, it varies. And odds are, its more than what Regal claims.
AMC, the nations second-largest chain (with 307 theaters in 30 states and the District of Columbia), also pops in coconut oil. The only good news: AMCs popcorns arent as super-sized as Regals. But theyre bigger than the company acknowledges.
According to AMC, a small popcorn contains 225 calories. In fact, the small AMC popcorns that we bought weighed about 50 percent more than the company claimed. Our AMC smalls contained 370 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat—about what youd get from that classic healthy snack: eight pats of butter.
For example, the companys 430-calorie medium morphed into 590 calories and 33 grams of saturated fat. And the 660-calorie large became a 1,030-calorie behemoth with 57 grams of sat fat. Its like eating a pound of baby back ribs topped with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs ice cream (except for the extra days worth of sat fat in the popcorn).
Whats next: fun-house mirrors that make you look skinny on your way out of the theater?
Toppings: Fake-butter fans must love AMC. The chain lets patrons pump their own “buttery” topping. No skimpy tablespoon of extra fat on a small or two tablespoons on a large, like Regal claims to use. With 120 calories per tablespoon, you should be able to squeeze another 200 to 500 calories into the bucket of fat cells in your lap.
The OmniHeart diets werent designed to melt pounds, even though many of the participants were overweight or obese.
“In fact, we made sure they didnt cut calories or we wouldnt have known how much each diet mattered,” says Janis Swain, an OmniHeart dietitian at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.
In a separate study, Sacks put 800 overweight adults on diets that were high or low in fat, carbs, or protein. After two years, weight loss was about the same.3 “So there is also a tie for weight loss,” he notes.
However, weve tweaked the diet to make it easier for people to lose—or not gain—weight by cutting caloric beverages and eating foods that are less calorie dense.
Cinemark, with 296 theaters in 39 states, deserves some applause. The nations third largest chain pops in non-hydrogenated canola oil instead of coconut.
Assuming you add no “buttery” topping, your heart can escape a Cinemark popcorn relatively unscathed. Your belly (and blood pressure) wont be so lucky.
If you share an unbuttered (8-cup) small with a fellow moviegoer, each of you will walk away with about 200 calories (seasoned with 340 milligrams of sodium).
Thats the best you can expect from movie theater popcorn, unless you ask the theater to pop you a batch without salt. (All the Cinemark, AMC, and Regal locations we called said they would do that.)
A medium popcorn (14 cups) at Cinemark reaches 760 calories and a large (17 cups) hits 910 calories (and 1,500 mg of sodium—an entire days quota). Since when is half-a-days-calories worth of corn, oil, and salt called a “snack”? Maybe since America started competing in the Sumo Belly-Lifting Olympics.
Toppings: Cinemark may use the healthiest popping oil, but you can still run into problems at the pump.
At some Cinemarks, the topping is essentially the same “buttery” non-hydrogenated soybean oil used by other chains. So for each tablespoon that you (or the servers) pour over your popcorn, youre adding another 130 calories that (were guessing) you wont burn by the end of the day.
At other Cinemarks (especially in the West), the topping is made from real butter. Would you add butter to your French fries?
Each tablespoon of the butter topping delivers 9 grams of saturated fat—half a days limit—plus 0.4 grams of naturally occurring trans fat, which will boost your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol as much as manmade trans does.
So get out the calculator…and that extra dose of Lipitor. You just turned your large popcorn into two Big Macs.
A bag or tub of popcorn can make you thirsty, and theaters arent about to let their customers suffer. So they offer sodas to wash down the salt and oil.
A small ranges from 16 ounces (2 cups) at Cinemark to 32 ounces (4 cups) at Regal. Assume that about a quarter of it is filled with ice. Even so, youre talking 150 to 300 calories worth of sugar (unless you get a diet soda or water).
A large is only for those who possess a reinforced bladder (or arrive with a supply of Depends). It ranges from 44 ounces (5½ cups) at Cinemark or AMC to 54 ounces (nearly 7 cups) at Regal. Okay, so you may not need an extra 400 to 500 calories—and 26 to 33 teaspoons of sugar—right now. But who knows? Maybe a famine is just around the corner.
To save you money (how thoughtful), theaters offer combos. For example, for a mere $12, Regal hands you a medium popcorn and a medium soft drink, and AMC dishes up a large popcorn and a large soda. Where else can you be so distracted (by the movie) that you dont realize youve just swallowed 1,400 to 1,600 calories?
A combo for two people is even more economical. At Regal (1 large popcorn and 2 medium sodas) and AMC (1 large popcorn and 2 large drinks), you pay about $17 for roughly 2,000 calories. What a deal. Youll still have money left over for dinner and dessert after the movie.
True, you might be a tad less hungry if you go back for a free refill. The problem is, you have to walk all the way to the concession stand for it. Thats dozens of steps!
Maybe someday theaters will have employees walk up and down the aisles offering free refills of popcorn and soda during the movie. In the meantime, they could at least offer bigger buckets. Maybe garbage bags would work.
Movie Theater Popcorn Calories and Macros
If youre wondering how many calories are in movie theater popcorn, the answer depends on the theater you go to and the size of your order. A medium-sized popcorn from AMC movie theater holds 7 cups of popcorn and has about 600 calories.
The calories in movie theater popcorn can vary quite a bit, though. Butter-free popcorn from AMC ranges from 300 calories for a small order to 1,090 calories for a refillable tub, per AMC Theatres.
The carbs in movie theater popcorn also vary. You can get anywhere between 41 and 148 grams of carbs from movie theater popcorn.
Because AMC popcorn is popped in canola oil, its usually high in fat, even if you skip the butter. Youll get anywhere between 13 grams of fat (in a small) and 48 grams of fat in a refillable tub.
Movie theater popcorn also has some protein. In a small, youll get 7 grams of protein, while a refillable tub has 25 grams.
If you share an unbuttered (8-cup) small with a fellow moviegoer, each of you will walk away with about 200 calories (seasoned with 340 milligrams of sodium).
The calories, on the other hand, may show up much sooner…and where you least want them.
How can a medium and large at Regal each hold the same 20 cups of popcorn?
A medium popcorn (14 cups) at Cinemark reaches 760 calories and a large (17 cups) hits 910 calories (and 1,500 mg of sodium—an entire days quota). Since when is half-a-days-calories worth of corn, oil, and salt called a “snack”? Maybe since America started competing in the Sumo Belly-Lifting Olympics.
Turns out the Popcorn Board is right…if youre talking low-fat popcorn or (fat-free) air-popped. Eating a tub of movie theater popcorn is more like eating an 8 oz. bag of potato chips, and thats assuming your theater pops in the best oil available and you get it without the “buttery” topping.
FAQ
Is movie Theatre popcorn keto-friendly?
How many carbs in a large popcorn at the movies?
Butter-free popcorn from AMC ranges from 300 calories for a small order to 1,090 calories for a refillable tub, per AMC Theatres. The carbs in movie theater popcorn also vary. You can get anywhere between 41 and 148 grams of carbs from movie theater popcorn.
How many carbs are in a bucket of movie theater popcorn?
How many carbs are in movie theater popcorn with butter?
