Coming to a theater near you: $3 movie tickets for one day

NEW YORK (AP) — For someday, film tickets will likely be simply $3 within the overwhelming majority of American theaters as a part of a newly launched “Nationwide Cinema Day” to lure moviegoers throughout a quiet spell on the field workplace.

The Cinema Basis, a non-profit arm of the Nationwide Affiliation of Theater House owners, on Sunday introduced that Sept. 3 will likely be a nationwide low cost day in additional than 3,000 theaters and on greater than 30,000 screens. Main chains, together with AMC and Regal Cinemas, are collaborating, as are all main movie studios. In collaborating theaters, tickets will likely be not more than $3 for each exhibiting, in each format.

Labor Day weekend is historically one of many slowest weekends in theaters. This 12 months, the August lull has been particularly acute for exhibitors. Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas, cited the scant provide of main new releases in its current plans to fill for Chapter 11 chapter.

However, if profitable, Nationwide Cinema Day may flood theaters with moviegoers and doubtlessly immediate them to return within the fall. Earlier than every exhibiting, ticket patrons will likely be proven a sizzle reel of upcoming movies from A24, Amazon Studios, Disney, Focus Options, Lionsgate, Neon, Paramount, Sony Photos Classics, Sony, United Artists Releasing, Common, and Warner Bros.

“After this summer time’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we needed to do one thing to rejoice moviegoing,” stated Jackie Brenneman, Cinema Basis president, in a press release. “We’re doing it by providing a ‘thanks’ to the moviegoers that made this summer time occur, and by providing an additional enticement for many who haven’t made it again but.”

After greater than two years of pandemic, film theaters rebounded considerably over the summer time, seeing enterprise return to almost pre-pandemic ranges. Movies like “Prime Gun: Maverick,”“Minions: Rise of Gru,”“Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity” and “Jurassic World Dominion” pushed the home summer time field workplace to $3.3 billion in ticket gross sales as of Aug. 21, based on information agency Comscore. That trails 2019 totals by about 20% however exhibitors have had about 30% fewer broad releases this 12 months.

Organizers of Nationwide Cinema Day described the occasion as a trial that would turn out to be an annual fixture. Whereas another nations have experimented with the same day of low cost film tickets, the initiative is the primary of its variety on such a big scale within the U.S.

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Observe AP Movie Author Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP