National Cinema Day: Why movie tickets will only be 3$ in the US

On September 3, thousands of movie theatres will offer tickets for just $3 in an effort to entice patrons during a long weekend that generally doesn’t see a lot of moviegoers.

The National Cinema Day is being introduced for the first time by The Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with NATO. Customers of all ages can get tickets for $3 at more than 3,000 cinemas. Given that the national average U.S. movie ticket was $9.16 in 2019, that represents a significant savings.

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AMC and Regal Cinemas are planning to offer $3 movie tickets for all major film studios in all formats, including IMAX and 4D. Some of the top performing movies for the last week of August include “The Invitation,” “Bullet Train,” “Beast,” and “Top Gun Maverick.”

Cinemark Theatres is going above and beyond by offering $3 beverages, candy, and popcorn in addition to $3 movie tickets.

“We wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing after this summer’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we’re doing it by saying ‘thank you’ to the moviegoers who helped make this summer a success, and by providing an extra incentive for those who haven’t returned yet,” said Jackie Brenneman, president of Cinema Foundation, in a press release.

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The coronavirus pandemic devastated the film industry, prompting NATO to launch an awareness campaign dubbed #SaveYourCinema, which resulted in over 200,000 letters to Congress from moviegoers across the United States requesting additional federal assistance.

Along with that, streaming services have become more popular, enabling Americans to view their preferred movies and TV shows from the comfort of their couches.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) acknowledged in its annual report that the U.S./Canada box office market was $4.5 billion in 2021, a 105 percent gain from 2020 but still much lower than 2019. This is a fact the film industry is seeking to deal with.

A total of 168 million individuals, or just under half of the U.S. and Canadian population, visited a theatre in person at least once in 2021 (47 percent).

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Simultaneously, MPA discovered that 80 percent of U.S. adults watched movies and TV shows through traditional TV services and online subscriptions.

Some media companies are attempting to reach viewers in both places, such as when Warner Bros. announced that the film “Dune” would be released on HBO Max at the same time it was released in theatres.

Denis Villeneuve, director of “Dune,” slammed the decision, writing in a Variety op-ed, “streaming services are a positive and powerful addition to the movie and TV ecosystems.” However, I want the audience to understand that streaming alone will not be able to sustain the film industry as we knew it prior to COVID.”

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Villeneuve went on to say that his film was made with the intention of providing a “big screen experience,” with images and sound meticulously designed to be seen in a theatre.

National Cinema Day could help the movie industry by enticing moviegoers to visit a theatre rather than watching through a paid subscription service.

Since the first movie theatres started popping up in the United States in the early 1900s, people have been enjoying seeing movies at theatres for more than a century. The cinema evolved after the invention of the capacity to record moving images on film, and it has long been a cherished American tradition.

But as a result of the development of video players, DVDs, and now online streaming, people no longer visit theatres as frequently as they once did.

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National Cinema Day was established to bring people back to the world of the movie theatre in order to remind the world how much fun it is to go to the movies. It is observed in the United States, the United Kingdom, India and may spread to other countries.

India will observe National Cinema Day. On this one-day event, all Cinema halls will charge a nominal and uniform price of just Rs 75. This pricing will be applicable on regular theatres as well as multiplex including the likes of INOX, PVR, Cinepolis, Carnival, M2K, Wave, Asian, and more across the nation.  

The Cinema Foundation, a non-profit arm of the National Association of Theater Owners, has played an important role in raising awareness for National Cinema Day.