FILM FOOD: Top cinema popcorn that you have to buy

You’re at the cinema and mere moments away from handing your freshly bought ticket over to the attendant. Suddenly, you realise that something is very wrong: you have forgotten to buy popcorn from the ASDA across the street. You begin to panic; how are you going to survive for two hours without sustenance?

This horrific, first world problem can strike whenever you least expect it and so to help you out, I’ve made a guide detailing the best popcorn that money can buy from three major cinema chains. Hang in there soldier.

CINEWORLD: Regular Sweet and Salted, £4.95

Cineworld’s popcorn comes in a nice foldable bag, meaning that you can wrap up and take home any popcorn you don’t finish on the first go, however I don’t know why anyone would want to do this because the popcorn’s just not that great. Despite the salted popcorn having just the right amount of tanginess, the taste of the sweet stuff is very dull and uninteresting. Moreover, the texture of the popcorn is uncomfortably soft and chewy.

VUE: Regular Sweet and Salted, £5.80

If Cineworld has a problem with texture, then Vue’s popcorn almost certainly makes up for it with their firm and perfectly cooked pieces of film-food goodness.

And that’s about all the praise I can give Vue’s popcorn.

At £5.80 for a regular box, Vue is the most expensive out of the three cinema chains and the taste certainly doesn’t justify the price tag. The sweet popcorn tastes like Honey Monster Puff cereal, meaning it gets really sickly really fast and whilst the salted popcorn is good, there is a distinct, unpleasant aftertaste that lingers on the tongue.

ODEON: Regular Sweet and Salted, £5.35

The first thing that you’ll notice about Odeon’s popcorn is its striking golden-brown colour and sweet smell of heaven. Despite being a tad on the large side, the flavour of both the sweet and salted popcorn is perfectly balanced – the sweet in particular is a standout with some pieces of popcorn being completely coated in a shiny, sugary glaze. For overall price and taste, this is your winner.