Kernels heaped over the rim of a red-and-white striped box, the kind sold at a movie counter rather than made at home in a bowl. It's the emoji for movie night and can't-look-away drama, dropped into a thread the second an argument or a plot twist gets entertaining enough to just sit back and watch.
What 🍿 means
A rectangular box printed with red and white stripes holding a heap of popcorn that is creamish brown. The capacity of the box would vary across different platforms.
The 🍿 Popcorn emoji signifies a sense of relaxing over a movie or even an informal get together with your buddies or family. It can also suggest drama or even a process of transforming (from being corn to popcorn!).
How and when to use it
- If your best friend or a close family member (with whom you share a close bond), is sharing some gossip or even something about their day that made them go nuts, you can use 🍿 in those conversations - like, "Oooooh. Drama 🍿 Go on, I'm all ears".
- While sharing a social media story or even while texting someone about a movie you're watching, like a 'movie time' story/text, you can use 🍿. For instance, "Horror movie marathon - Halloween edition!! 🍿".
- Although a box of popcorn is the typical movie snack, it does imply other usages too. If you're sharing anything about a popcorn movie/flick/film, 🍿 can be brought it - either within a movie review or even while telling your buddy that the movie was a one-time watch, etc.
- 🍿 can also be used in the contexts of a 'party'. So, if you're either throwing a virtual party or a physical one (provided its COVID safe), you can use this emoji in the invitation. For example, "Weekend scene at my place. BLOCK YA DATES 🍿".
Other Names
- 🍿 Kettle Corn
- 🍿 Movie Time
- 🍿 Popcorn Movie
- 🍿 Butter Popcorn
- 🍿 Corn Kernels
- 🍿 Popped Corn (haha)
- 🍿 Box of Popcorn
- 🍿 Puff Corn (usable)
🍿 in real conversations
What does it mean when someone comments 🍿 under drama?
'I'm watching this unfold and I'm here for it' — 🍿 is the internet's version of grabbing a snack and settling in, dropped under an unfolding argument, callout post or messy comment section as a way of saying this is entertaining without actually taking a side.
Does 🍿 ever just mean literal popcorn?
Sure, plenty of the time — movie night captions, theater snack orders, a bowl on the couch during a game. Context is the only tell: 🍿 under an actual movie post means snacks, while 🍿 replying to an unfolding group-chat feud means something closer to 'this is better than the movie.'
Where did the 'grab your popcorn' phrase come from?
It leans on the idea that watching drama play out is basically its own form of entertainment, worth treating like a movie you'd bring snacks to. The Michael Jackson eating-popcorn GIF, pulled from the 2009 music video for one of his own songs, helped cement that exact image in meme culture, and 🍿 now does the same job without needing the GIF at all.
The lowdown
- Category
- Food & Drink › food-prepared
- Codepoints
U+1F37F- Emoji version
- Emoji 1.0
- Shortcodes
:popcorn:- Keywords
- corn, movie, pop, popcorn
How it looks across platforms
Seeing a blank box instead of the emoji somewhere? Here's why that happens. Curious why the designs above don't match to begin with? Here's why that happens too.
Pairs well with
Tap any combo to copy the whole thing.
⚡ Quick round
Which joined the keyboard first — 🍿 Popcorn or 🥱 Yawning Face?
Runs with a crowd
🍿 keeps company in food emojis and yellow emojis — tap-to-copy sets for when one emoji isn't enough.