Popcorn Movie Meaning

(film, idiomatic) A motion picture without serious dramatic content, a weighty message, or intellectual depth, which serves simply as enjoyable entertainment.

Example: 1994 Dec. 9, "Review: Drop Zone Unbelievable, Unpretentious and Great Fun," News Tribune (retrieved 29 Oct 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, Stephen J. Dubner, "Steven the Good," New York Times (retrieved 29 Oct 2011):
  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," Time:
  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.