Thousands of Theaters Offer $4 Movie Tickets Today for 'National Cinema Day' (cnbc.com) 50
Last year movie theaters offered $3 movie tickets for "National Cinema Day," attracting a surge of more than 8.1 million movie-goers (compared to just 1.7 million the day after). So they're doing it again...
Today more than 3,000 movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada — with approximately 30,000 screens — are offering $4 tickets for every show (including IMAX and Dolby screenings) in a special one-day event. (The U.K. will also celebrate "National Cinema Day" — but in six days, on September 2nd.)
Variety notes that last year's event brought the highest one-day attendance for all of 2022, and "All of that foot traffic in theaters usually means there will be more popcorn and concession stand sales." So the National Association of Theatre Owners's nonprofit, the Cinema Foundation — decided to do it again this year just two days after the first event had ended. CNBC reports: While last year's event was held in part because of a need to lure audiences back to theaters after two years away following pandemic shutdowns, Bryan Braunlich, executive director of the non-profit Cinema Foundation, says that the hope for this year's Cinema Day is just for audiences to enjoy being at the movies... Nationwide chains including AMC and Regal will be participating. For a full list of theaters taking part in National Cinema Day, click here...
If this year's installment proves to once again be a success, Braunlich says the hope is to make National Cinema Day an annual event. "If this continues every year, which we hope it will, the long term goal is to eventize it," he says. "Make it less about the price and more like little Comic Cons in every city where you never know what celebrity is going to hop into your theater."
This year's event includes a limited re-release of some classic films, including the original Jurassic Park.
Today more than 3,000 movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada — with approximately 30,000 screens — are offering $4 tickets for every show (including IMAX and Dolby screenings) in a special one-day event. (The U.K. will also celebrate "National Cinema Day" — but in six days, on September 2nd.)
Variety notes that last year's event brought the highest one-day attendance for all of 2022, and "All of that foot traffic in theaters usually means there will be more popcorn and concession stand sales." So the National Association of Theatre Owners's nonprofit, the Cinema Foundation — decided to do it again this year just two days after the first event had ended. CNBC reports: While last year's event was held in part because of a need to lure audiences back to theaters after two years away following pandemic shutdowns, Bryan Braunlich, executive director of the non-profit Cinema Foundation, says that the hope for this year's Cinema Day is just for audiences to enjoy being at the movies... Nationwide chains including AMC and Regal will be participating. For a full list of theaters taking part in National Cinema Day, click here...
If this year's installment proves to once again be a success, Braunlich says the hope is to make National Cinema Day an annual event. "If this continues every year, which we hope it will, the long term goal is to eventize it," he says. "Make it less about the price and more like little Comic Cons in every city where you never know what celebrity is going to hop into your theater."
This year's event includes a limited re-release of some classic films, including the original Jurassic Park.
$4 movie ticket (Score:3)
But double price for the popcorn and soda
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Just don't buy popcorn and soda. Did you go watch a movie or dine?
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That's where I start to have trouble figuring out what's "right".
The theatres don't make much on first run movies because the fees they pay to play the movies are so high. They make their money on the obscene markup on concessions... so if you don't buy your popcorn and drink as you go in, you're essentially killing the theatre.
Should you do it anyway and let the studios figure out their screening fees need to drop? Probably, but in the meantime your local theatre goes away and might not come back.
I usual
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I never go when it's crowded, so I'm not taking a seat away from somebody who'd order concessions. If the theater makes 1 cent off my $5 Tuesdays ticket, that's 1 cent more than they would if I didn't come, and I've never damaged anything or caused any costs or disturbed another patron.
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so if you don't buy your popcorn and drink as you go in, you're essentially killing the theatre.
I like that the customer is the one killing the theatre with its broken and busted business model. And let's not pretend that yet another installment of Spiderman screened at the "local theatre" is a laudable fabric of our modern society deserving preservation. Besides, we must make room for Spirit Halloween.
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I agree with you in principle, but in practice the theatre doesn't have much more pull with the studio than you or I do... the studios are more a 'force of nature' that isn't going to change until long after the damage is done.
It's short term vs. long term... and there may not be much of a long term anyway. If you like local theaters, you kind of have to give in to the evil and pay up.
Re: $4 movie ticket (Score:2)
They won't change as long as the zombie horde uses cash to vote for continuing the treatment they're recieving as part of this system.
Why would it?
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The theatres don't make much on first run movies because the fees they pay to play the movies are so high. They make their money on the obscene markup on concessions... so if you don't buy your popcorn and drink as you go in, you're essentially killing the theatre.
OK so we need to go to the theaters and buy things at the concession stand OR we're "killing the theater"
I usually wait and stream
So how, exactly does that help the theaters?
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Why not both?
When watching a movie at home I'm often also eating dinner. It's a pretty good experience to combine both.
That said haven't bought anything in the cinema since it's mostly just snacks, not to mention that a popcorn and drink costs as much as a decent main course.
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Why not both? When watching a movie at home I'm often also eating dinner.
1. You went out and paid extra, you probably want to pay more attention to the movie than the random things you'd watch at home. Missing clues, jokes or jumpscares because you were looking at the soda can for a second makes the experience a little worse. At home you can replay (only if you are aware you missed something).
2. You're in a theatre with other people. Eating involves noises and smells that can be disturbing or uncomfortable to others.
For both reasons above, in Cabaret or dinner-show you're suppos
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But i get your point, you mean they are suckers and are not doing this on good faith. It would be great for someone to confirm or infirm your proposal, though.
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Looks like someone forgot to renew (Score:2)
Their "Let's Encrypt" certificate expired 8 months ago, so linking to www.nationalcinemaday.org is going to have most people bailing when their browser tells them it's a security risk.
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They must have heard you in advance of when you posted, because the new Amazon SSL certificate was issued before your message.
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I'm amazed it lasted long enough to get posted on Slashdot. However, the .ca site was always OK so I was able to confirm my local cinema is participating. ...I might go see Barbie today.
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Not in all regions?
From Boston the cert is from 9/2022 and the site is a "thanks for making 2022 great" site.
If it were a rainy day I'd try harder.
Still not enough incentive (Score:3)
Even if I could go and see a movie that I want to see in the theater, today, for $4, I wouldn't do it.
At home, I have a 70" LED with a pretty decent surround/sub system, and ambient color lighting in a room with heavy curtains. On top of that, I have a very comfortable easy chair, a fridge full of food, and another full of beer that I don't have to pay for, (again,) 20' away from that chair.
I've simply invested too much in my home viewing experience for me to want to go to an overpriced theater, pay for overpriced popcorn and sugar water, and run the risk of having to deal with asshole movie goers who can't keep quiet and stay off their cell phones, or with a system that can't handle the film itself.
And before someone says that I can't make a comparison between my home system and a theater system; the last film I saw in the theater was Bladerunner 2049. I had an admittedly very comfortable seat, I skipped the snacks, and the people in the theater behaved. But the speaker system couldn't handle the insane bass track in the film, resulting in heavy distortion to the point of distraction. Not a problem I had at home on my second viewing.
The downside is that I end up having to wait a lot of additional time when something that I want to see comes out. There are going to be two movies the second half of this year that I want to see, one of which is in theaters now. My best guess is I won't see them until early next year, especially because the director of one of them is a known strong proponent of the "theater experience."
I know there are people out there who want that experience, and I wouldn't dream of taking that away from them. But I think a lot more people out there are like me, and would prefer to stay home. I think, (hope?) that eventually, the studios are going to have to go more heavily into direct-to-streaming releases, (and yes, I know, that means $50 streaming purchases for brand new movies.) Theaters will, and I think should, turn into a boutique experience.
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100% Agree. The advantages VASTLY outweigh the disadvantages for me as well.
=== Advantages ===
* Full control over the volume
* Control over Close Captions
* No fucking ad previews
* Can pause for bio/food break
* No over-priced drinks or snacks
* Can eat what I want -- snacks or not
* Can drink what I want -- alcohol or not
* Always the best seat in the house
* ZERO risk of getting Covid
* No obnoxious people who won't STFU
* No people on phones
* No sticky floors
* Save time, money, and fuel by not having to waste th
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You overlooked having to wait for a movie worth watching to come to a theater near you.
Some limited release stuff can be really good, but because it's "limited release" it does not always show at a theater nearby.
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And what if you couldn't have your 70" TV and sound system?
Home theatres are great, no question. But there are places where people live where they have neighbours that preclude the ability to have a decent sound system. Or a large TV.
And sometimes, life makes it so those people are there - be it for job or other reason.
So they get a 50" TV with speakers as the best they can get. Which makes going to the theatre something to do because due to living conditions, they can't have the nice big screen TV or sound
Theaters are dinosaurs (Score:2)
At one time, they were necessary because of the tech at the time
Now, the choice is between sitting at home in a comfortable chair, with subtitles and the ability to pause and rewind
or
Driving, parking, waiting in line, fighting crowds, sitting in a painful seat and watching in a room full of people who care more about yakking with their friends and looking at their phone
I can imagine theaters evolving into bars/restaurants with a screen where the main purpose is socializing, eating and drinking while the mov
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There are many more reasons not to go to theaters. E.g., you have to get there at a time of THEIR choosing, it is either too hot or too cold, the movie is too loud, the guy behind you is coughing on you spreading covid or the flu or RSV, or just smells bad, you can't stop the film to go to the bathroom, the bathroom is disgusting anyway, ... Oh, wait, I forgot: the movie sucks.
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Jesus, you should probably just stay at home at all times if living life gets to you that much. With minimal modifications your list could just as easily be a list of negatives for walking out ones front door.
Re: Theaters are dinosaurs (Score:2)
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Sigh...
"With minimal modifications, your list could..."
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Compared to sitting in my desk chair staring at a movie on my 23" 1080p ASUS monitor and listening on my set of Creative labs 2.1 channel speakers, going to the movies is a great experience.
I get to sit in a nice comfy chair, watch the movie on a big screen in high resolution (at least 4K I would imagine if not higher depending on what the movie is shot in) and listen on a high quality surround sound setup. And I can't remember a time when the experience was ruined by people talking too loudly during the mo
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Compared to sitting in my desk chair staring at a movie on my 23" 1080p ASUS monitor and listening on my set of Creative labs 2.1 channel speakers, going to the movies is a great experience.
Compared to laying back on the couch watching a movie on my 55" el cheapo 4k TV and listening on my DTS stereo setup, going to the movies is a shitty experience. And all my gear is either cheap crap or bought used and refurbished, like my stereo that I had to replace some relays in, so it wasn't exactly expensive.
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I can imagine theaters evolving into bars/restaurants with a screen where the main purpose is socializing, eating and drinking while the movie is the background
You do understand that "dine-in cinemas" are a thing, right? Here in the Dallas Metroplex we have Alamo Drafthouse, Look, Studio Movie Grill, some AMC screens, and several other dine-in theaters where you sit down in the theater and order your food on your smartphone, and it comes to you freshly made and pretty good, actually - they offer fresh made-to-order pizza, burgers, chicken tenders, nachos, hummus, alcohol, soda, popcorn, candy, etc....
Of course, the whole "socializing" while the movie is playing is
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I can imagine theaters evolving into bars/restaurants with a screen where the main purpose is socializing, eating and drinking while the movie is the background
It's called Alamo Drafthouse. [drafthouse.com] Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
33% inflation (Score:2)
Haha, they want us to think it's cheap for a day, but even that they inflated by 1/3.
National COVID Day (Score:2)
The term "superspreader event" has left my vocabulary, just as fish have no word for water. Drawing hundreds of thousands more people to crowd cinemas? Sure, it's more than usual, but is it that much more? It's still wildly irresponsible, but that's against a background of nearly every organization being just as irresponsible.
Eh... (Score:2)
I like going to the theaters for movies from time to time but unless it's a major premier event where the whole audience is super into the movie I have no desire to be in a crowded movie theater, it just ups the odds of having jerks in the crowd. I'd much rather pay the few dollars more to go the day after when the theaters wont be so full.
/o\ (Score:1)
That's awesome - spend only $16 on tickets for a family of four plus $150 on substandard 'food ' served in cardboard.
Really worth leaving your climate-controlled, clean, comfortable home cinema which has advanced tech such as pause and rewind.
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Really worth leaving your climate-controlled, clean, comfortable home cinema which has advanced tech such as pause and rewind.
Uh, I don't know about you, but my local cinema has a bigger screen, better sound system, decent made-to-order food served to me in the theater, and my fellow patrons are very respectful of each othe, but then again, I don't live near the east or west coast...
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My local cinema's screen fills no more of my vision than the one I have at home, and also doesn't have any higher resolution. The only time I went to the theater outside of California (once in Austin) they had the same shitty food we have out here on the left coast.
Strike (Score:2)
Did I mention that the Hollywood writers & actors are on strike?
Too crowded. (Score:2)
I'd rather pay more on weekdays during the mantinee hours.
this would have been... (Score:2)
...far more useful, say, yesterday.
Just sayin'.
Bogus comparison (Score:2)
Last year movie theaters offered $3 movie tickets for "National Cinema Day," attracting a surge of more than 8.1 million movie-goers (compared to just 1.7 million the day after). So they're doing it again...
"National Cinema Day" is a Sunday, so the day after is a Monday - comparing Sunday Box Office receipts to Monday is a bogus comparison... why not compare it to the previous Sunday or the subsequent Sunday?
Saw three movies today... (Score:2)
Went to national chain cinema and got a $4 tix to see Gran Tourismo on IMAX, it was a fun movie and looked great on IMAX.
Then I went to a local art cinema and saw the original Jurassic Park in 3-D for $4, it was pretty good - I don't think I saw it in 3-D when it was first released.
Finally I went to another small chain cinema and saw The Hill, a fairly religious movies about a Texas boy that overcame challenges and played for a Major League Baseball team, Roy Hill.
I couldn't do a fourth movie, but I could h
I've already seen what I want this summer (Score:2)
It would have been great if they did this in July when the summer blockbusters were out, not during that interceding lul between summer blockbusters and Christmas movies. OTOH Barbie fans can repetitively enjoy the pink