Staying Fit
The average ticket at a U.S. movie theater this year costs $9.17 (and up to $17 in Manhattan) — but on Saturday, Sept. 3, for one day only, ticket prices will plummet to $3 at approximately 30,000 of America’s 40,000 or so movie screens. Movies haven’t been this cheap since E.T. phoned home in 1982. It’s all thanks to the Cinema Foundation, the National Association of Theater Owners’ nonprofit arm, which proclaimed Sept. 3 National Cinema Day.
Click here to find the movie deals near you. Before each movie, including new releases such as Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train, there’s a sizzle reel previewing the season’s upcoming hits from the big studios. The $3 doesn’t include tax or online and third-party ticketing fees.
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“After this summer’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” said foundation president Jackie Brenneman. Thanks especially to the massive Tom Cruise smash Top Gun: Maverick, movie ticket sales are up 161 percent over last year (though they’re still about one-fifth lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic).
Don’t miss this: How to Watch ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at Home
They’re not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, and the industry’s news isn’t entirely cause for celebration. Cinemark, the second-biggest theater chain in the world, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And after a hot summer start, August attendance fell. It’s always low around Labor Day, so this is the ideal time for a $3 movie offer.
A 2021 study by the Quorum, a film research firm, found that nearly half of people who bought theater tickets before COVID-19 have kicked the moviegoing habit. About 8 percent of former moviegoers said they’re not planning on coming back. “The over-50 crowd feels much less safe in a movie theater than the general public,” study author David Herrin tells AARP.
And yet people have begun to flock back to theaters — when there are movies good enough to lure them. The dearth of August hits is partly due to COVID-19 production problems. Grownups are willing to turn out for movies they find more appealing than the typical multiplex spandex superhero fare, and the back-to-back No. 1 hits Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis were propelled by a highly unusual flood of AARP-aged moviegoers.
National Cinema Day could become an annual tradition, the theater owners’ opportunity to put fans in the mood for the upcoming season and to celebrate the theatrical experience in the era of home streaming. Says Brenneman, “We’re doing it by offering a ‘thank you’ to the moviegoers that made this summer happen, and by offering an extra enticement for those who haven’t made it back yet.”
