Gatwick's special flavour popcorn created for flights

The renowned critic, who writes for various newspapers and magazines and presents a BBC radio show, has produced a brochure for passengers, critiquing the in-flight movie selections of airlines flying from Gatwick.

More than half of Brits (51 per cent) believe that binging on movies is one of the biggest perks of long-haul travel.

Mark Kermode said: “Watching movies is one of the greatest pleasures of flying – the perfect time to catch up on the latest releases or revisit old favourites. Even long-haul journeys can fly by if you pick the right film, whether it’s a tear-jerker, action adventure or rom-com. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours watching in-flight movies, it’s been great fun teaming up with Gatwick to look at the films on offer to passengers this autumn.”

Alongside Kermode’s guide, the airport has created ‘altitude-optimised’ popcorn, which will be available for passengers to pick up in the terminal. The popcorn is flavoured with toasted cheese, Marmite and goats cheese – all foods which are rich in umami, the only one of the five main taste sensations which is completely unaffected by altitude.

Kermode’s brochure – which advises passengers on the films that will relax them, keep them awake or even encourage them to shed a few tears while they’re on-board – follows research by Gatwick that shows one in six Brits (16 per cent) find watching films on a plane is more emotionally intense than watching at home or at the cinema.

With more than one in ten Brits (11 per cent) admitting to having cried at a film on a plane, it appears that men are more emotional in-flight movie-watchers than women – a sixth (16 per cent) confessed to being more likely to sob while watching a movie in the air than on the ground, compared with just six per cent of females.

Top 10 movies to watch on-board a flight (based on responses to Gatwick’s research):

1 Bridesmaids

2 The Hangover

3 Meet the Parents

4 The Shawshank Redemption

5 Jason Bourne

6 Forrest Gump

7 Groundhog Day

8 Bridget Jones’s Diary

9 Pretty Woman

10 Slumdog Millionaire