Imagine enjoying “X-Men 2” with a black tea smoothie in one hand and a tray of boiled octopus balls in the other.

How about catching “The Matrix Reloaded” while feasting on a Japanese bento box, delicately arranged with pickled plums, sushi slices, pink fish cakes and baked tofu?

Or what about trying to find your seat for the new “Terminator” sequel while loaded down with chicken legs, fried noodles and salted beef from a vending machine?

While soda, popcorn and American candy are becoming increasingly common at cinema concession counters outside the United States, these same cinemas also often continue to offer cuisine that’s been popular locally for generations.

And even the popcorn may be unfamiliar to Americans munching away in foreign moviehouses.

Cinemex patrons in Mexico, for example, are offered lime and chili sauces for their popcorn. In Taiwan, SBC International Cinemas offers sweet, salted, chocolate and strawberry-flavored popcorn. In certain Latin American and European markets (including England and Portugal), sweet popcorn is preferred over its salty, buttered American counterpart. (The Portuguese apparently hold the prize for strongest sweet tooth, where SBC offers its sweetest-tasting corn.)

A whopping 80 percent of popcorn sales in England are sweet, according to Chris Sanders, vice president of purchasing for Warner Bros. International Theatres. But in Ireland, Spain and Italy, he says, “it would be difficult to give sweet [popcorn] away.”

“There are unlimited things to do with popcorn,” adds Martin Olesen, director of international sales for Vogel Popcorn. “It comes down to imagination and taste.”

Accounting for different taste buds and foreign regulations can be challenging, notes Ricos Products president Frank Liberto, whose firm distributes nachos in 44 countries. He’s learned to adjust the heat of his jalapeno cheese sauce to suit geographically fluctuating tastes.

In countries such as Australia, he says, most of the spice must be taken out entirely to appeal to the public. (The same goes for domestic lightweights Florida and Texas.) As a result of strict import food restrictions in Europe, certain food colorings and preservatives must be removed, leaving the creamy, orange cheese sauce with a whiter hue.

Even still, nacho sales in cinemas worldwide have taken off, according to Liberto. “Five years ago, when I went to a theatre in Japan, I saw a line for nachos stretching from the concessions around to the bathrooms.” (Not bad, considering that Japanese cuisine traditionally has been void of cheese and peppers.)

Japan also has those moviehouses serving the octopus balls (also known as Japanese takoyaki) and bento boxes. In addition, moviegoers in the land of the rising sun can typically choose from rice cookies wrapped in seaweed and painted with soy sauce – as well as dried, salted, chewy fish snacks wrapped in airtight plastic bags.

UCI International offers patrons dried squid in Taiwan and cheese balls in Brazil.

Gaznate, an ice cream cone filled with Chantilly Whip served at room temperature, is a longtime best seller for Cinemex snackers in Mexico. Also popular at theatres south of the Rio Grande is chili served with mango or tamarind (a sour, tart fruit). There’s even a candy called “Dedo Indy” or “Indy Finger” made of chili, tamarind and sugar.

To keep up in a vending machine world, many Asian cinema chains are planting the machines in their lobbies, enabling them to supply moviegoers with quick, locally popular snacks. (Vending machines are everywhere in Japan; according to the Japan Vending Machine Association, there is one for every 20 people living there.) SBC introduced to its Taiwanese sites automated vendors, which dispense a full range of local delicacies such as meatballs, dried bean curd and chicken legs.

Of course most moviegoers, regardless of point or origin, like something to wash their treats down with – but not everyone is choosing traditional American quenchers.

Maria Almarza, director of communications for Coca-Cola Venezuela/Colombia, notes that in Venezuela a local brand called “Hit” is vying with Coke for top choice among her company’s beverages, followed by frescollita – a cream soda popular among preteens.

Cinemex patrons in Mexico guzzle apple-flavored soda; it’s the chain’s second-best-selling beverage.

Cinemark venues in Colombia offer local flavors Premio, a sweet, grape-flavored soda, and Kola Roman, a which mixes cherry and watermelon flavors. In Argentina, Cinemark sells quatro, another grape-flavored soda, which Almarza says is Coca-Cola’s second-most popular brand in Colombia.

Smoothies with an array of flavors such as mango, black tea and coffee are popular choices for Cinemark patrons in Taiwan. In Korea, locals choose from brands such as Coca-Cola’s Born Bit Maesil, a plum-flavored drink, and Qoo, a popular juice drink served in SBC sites in Taiwan.

It’s unlikely that Indy Fingers and dried bean curd will ever prove as popular at American multiplexes as popcorn has become in cinemas overseas, but American moviegoers abroad would be well-advised to check their snacks before entering a darkened auditorium. With language barriers, you never know which employee is going to accidentally give you the boiled octopus balls.