Have you ever wondered why the buttered popcorn you eat at the movie theater is so much more delicious than the stuff you buy in stores? Well, it's because it contains a lot of really weird stuff. Extra Crispy reports that movie theaters actually use a "butter" that contains no real butter.
Instead, it's comprised of ingredients like hydrogenated soybean oil (trans fats), beta carotene (a coloring that makes carrots orange) and a chemical that only mimics the flavor of butter. It also has tertiary Butylhydroquinone or TBHQ, a synthetic preservative that keeps the color and texture from changing as the product sits. Even worse, movie theater butter contains 20 more calories per tablespoon than real butter. Sorry, folks.
Source: Extra Crispy