Angelenos avoid heat, celebrate National Cinema Day with $3 movie tickets
In an effort to combat the aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic, movie theaters across the United States joined together to celebrate National Cinema Day by offering moviegoers $3 tickets on Saturday.
The Cinema Foundation announced the decision on Thursday, opting for a cheap way to commemorate the first annual celebration of National Cinema Day.
"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," said Jackie Brennerman, the Cinema Foundation president, in a statement on Thursday.
Viewers could see any movie in participating theaters — AMC, Regal and Cinemark — for a third of the average ticket price in the U.S., which currenty sits at $9.17.
After two years of noted struggles, the film industry made a massive comeback during Summer 2022 with blockbuster films like "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Elvis."
"This past summer was so incredibly strong that any notion that the movie theater could not recover from the pandemic was certainly dashed by what will wind up being about $3.4 billion in ticket sales for what was a blockbuster summer movie season," Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore, told CBS News this week.
The $3 ticket price applied to films in any format as well, including 3-D and IMAX, which are traditionally more expensive.
The move couldn't come at a more appropriate time for the film industry, since they normally experience a slow-down ahead of Labor Day Weekend with students returning to class.
For Angelenos, the opportunity gave a unique chance to escape the heat for a low price, as triple digit temperatures scorched the area for the fifth day in a row, part of an extensive heat wave expected to last through next week.
The AMC theater located in Burbank reported that they had sold well over four-times what they usually sell on a Saturday.
