Mental Floss 2016-10-25T10:35:03+00:00 2013-12-07T01:19:44+00:00 2013-12-09T13:12:07+00:00 11 Incredible Film Facts for the Passionate Movie Buff jasonenglish

Everyone loves a good movie, and these fun facts will help you fascinate your friends on your next trip to the multiplex.

1) Seventy percent of all Americans go to the movies at least once a year.

2) In the 1920s and ‘30s, most movie theaters were equipped with signs reading “Ladies Please Remove Your Hats” to ensure nobody’s view was blocked by a fellow patron’s elaborate headwear.

3) Many movie theaters used to have cry rooms, soundproofed elevated rooms in the back of the theater to take crying newborns. A window gave the parents a chance to keep watching the film.

4) Before it was destroyed, the Gaumont Palace in Paris was home to the world’s largest movie theater—a seating capacity of 6420.

5) The largest multiplex in the world today has 24 screens and seats 8092 patrons. It’s in Antwerp, Belgium.

6) Theaters generally make more money selling popcorn than they do tickets.

7) Maybe that’s because an ounce of movie theater popcorn costs more than an ounce of filet mignon.

8) Why do we eat popcorn during movies we watch at home? Because during WWII, popcorn consumption declined as fewer people went to movie theaters. A trade campaign by popcorn processors convinced consumers that popcorn was as good to eat at home as it was at the theater.

9) In Korea, dried cuttlefish is served with popcorn.

10) There’s a floating movie theater near Kudo Island in Thailand.

11) The White House movie theater was originally a coatroom.


December 6, 2013 - 10:00am