Movies for Kids for Free — or Almost Free

Need a break on a hot summer day? Take the kids or the grandkids to the movies this summer for free or dirt cheap.

A few big theater chains are offering some really good deals on morning screenings of G and PG movies. And they’ll let you in even if you’ve got no kids.

Regal Cinemas, which started its Free Family Film Festival back in 1991, is doing it again. You arrive at the theater on a Tuesday or a Wednesday morning from June 29 through August, and get in free. The show starts at 10, but it’s best to get there earlier, because it’s first come, first served.

Cinemark/Century Theatres’ Summer Movie Clubhouse offers its own 10-week summer program of children’s movies on weekday mornings. You pay 50 cents per person if you buy tickets for all 10 movies in advance or $1 per show as a walk-up. Time and days vary by location.

Another big chain of theaters, AMC, schedules its Summer MovieCamp on Tuesday mornings at 10 through mid-August, charging $1 admission. And Carmike Cinemas has its own Summer Kid's Series showing popular movies for $1 per person. Popcorn and drinks are $1, too.

Check with your local theaters for details; not all participate.

Joan Rattner Heilman writes often on good deals and where to find them.