Popcorn.

But, why?

Why do we always eat popcorn at the movies?

Let's find out on today's episode of Colossal Questions.

Back before the big screen was invented, popcorn was a popular snack at carnivals and fairgrounds around the United States.

By the late 1800s, the popcorn making machine was invented, and it became even easier to make and sell the stuff.

Popcorn was super cheap and super popular, but it wasn't exactly fancy.

So when the first movie theaters opened around 1900, they wanted nothing to do with the delicious salty snack.

You see, movie theaters were seen as a new-fangled version of the classic theater, which has a distinctly fancy feel to it.

No normal theater would ever allow such a loud and messy food into its performances.

So, movie theater owners did the same.

But all that changed in 1927 when the very first films with sound called talkies came out.

Now, movies were no longer trying to mimic the sophisticated theater experience and became popular entertainment for everyone.

So movie theaters changed their whole vibe.

Instead of trying to be fancy like the traditional theater, movie theaters became cheap and easy entertainment for people rich and poor, and popular popcorn was the perfect inexpensive food to go with the film.

Early theaters didn't have the space to add popcorn concession stands.

So street vendors quickly started posting up outside theaters.

After a few years, some vendors started paying a fee to theaters to sell their popcorn right in the lobby to catch the crowds as people entered a movie.

Eventually, the theater owners realized they could cut out the middle man and sell popcorn themselves.

Popcorn became a must-have for any movie theater.

It was so popular that theaters who didn't sell it had trouble attractive moviegoers.

But the relationship between popcorn and the movies was really set in stone during World War II.

Things like chocolate and sugar were rationed during the war, which made it hard to get candy.

But salt and popcorn kernels were never rationed.

So the country's favorite movie theater treat was even more available and even more popular.

Ever since, popcorn and movies have continued to be as iconic as any duo out there.

The only difference: those buckets keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and I'm okay with it.

And now you know why we eat popcorn at the movies.

Comment below if you have a question you'd like to know the answer to.

And remember to subscribe for more episodes of Colossal Questions. Only on Dream Works tv.