Popcorn supposedly originated in Mexico over 5,000 years ago. Popcorn became famous in America when a guy named Charles Cretor created the first popcorn machine in the late 1800’s. It was a cart with a steam kettle on wooden wheels.
During the Great Depression in the 1930’s, sugar became expensive and popcorn was cheap, so the industry of popcorn tripled. Theaters became a way for people to escape and popcorn was introduced to theaters; quickly becoming the ‘theater snack food’. Popcorn made the theaters more money than the film itself, so it grew rapidly in popularity.