popcorn movie

Named after popcorn, a popular accompaniment to movies.

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popcorn movie (plural popcorn movies)

1. (film, idiomatic) A motion picture without serious dramatic content, a weighty message, or intellectual depth, which serves simply as enjoyable entertainment.
   • 1994 December 9, “Review: Drop Zone Unbelievable, Unpretentious and Great Fun”, in News Tribune, retrieved 29 October 2011:

     Ah well, it's a pure popcorn movie, so what do you expect? Drop Zone doesn't tax many brain cells, but it does keep the pulse pounding right to the end.

   • 1999 February 14, Stephen J. Dubner, “Steven the Good”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Spielberg calls Minority Report the most cynical film he will have made—but yes, it has a happy ending, he says, and yes, it's a popcorn movie, "but a gourmet popcorn movie."

   • 2004 May 17, Lev Grossman, “Hollywood's Global Warming”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 2011-06-28:

     As a movie, The Day After Tomorrow is your classic computer-generated cinematic confection, only the bad guy isn't an alien or a giant lizard, it's global warming. That gives Tomorrow a lot more political heft than your average popcorn movie.

• brain candy

• “popcorn movie”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.