Forget horror movies, the scary is in the popcorn

A study released yesterday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that a medium popcorn and soda sold at the Regal Entertainment Group was the equivalent of eating three Quarter Pounders from McDonald’s topped with … wait for it… 12 pats of butter. And that’s before we compulsively press the handle of the buttered topping dispenser.

Kansas City-based AMC fared slightly better in the tests, although that’s mostly because of the smaller portion sizes at the chain. A Regal medium is 20 cups of popcorn (1,200 calories, 60 grams of saturated fat), while AMC’s is only nine cups (590 calories and 33 grams of saturated fat). The high fat and calorie count in the popcorns is attributed to the use of coconut oil, which has a high amount of saturated fat.