Select movie theaters across the country, including in the Bronx, are offering movie tickets for just $3 on Saturday as part of a brand new National Cinema Day initiative.
For participating theaters, every movie, every time and every format is eligible for the deal. Tax and online ticketing fees still apply.
While the Bronx isn’t bursting at the seams with movie theaters — particularly with The Whitestone Multiplex Cinemas now in the history books — both AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13 and Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinemas will be participating in the offer.
Bronxites can also look around NYC, with theaters across the five boroughs participating in the nationwide promo. Neighboring Westchester also brings options, with The Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers and Regal New Roc in New Rochelle participating.
The effort is spearheaded by The Cinema Foundation, which is a non-profit arm of the National Association of Theater Owners.
Across the country, more than 3,000 theaters from major chains AMC and Regal Cinemas, as well as major film studios, will participate across more than 30,000 screens. Search by ZIP code and check out the options at nationalcinemaday.org.
The event is a trial that could become annual, according to National Cinema Day organizers.
Before each showing, ticket buyers will be shown a sizzle reel of upcoming films from A24, Amazon Studios, Disney, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Neon, Paramount, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony, United Artists Releasing, Universal and Warner Bros.
While movie theaters have suffered a blow from COVID-19, they have rebounded this summer.
Films such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Jurassic World Dominion” pushed the domestic summer box office to $3.3 billion in ticket sales as of Aug. 21, according to Comscore, a data firm. While these numbers trail 2019 totals by about 20%, exhibitors have had about 30% fewer wide releases this year.
But the movie theater business isn’t all butterflies and rainbows, as British company Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas, recently confirmed that the company is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, facing billions of dollars in debt.
And in tune with an August lull, Labor Day weekend is traditionally one of the slowest weekends at movie theaters. This deal, however, will likely entice movie lovers who haven’t been in front of the big screen for a while. Perhaps, they’ll feel nostalgic enough to return.
After all, the Bronx has enough movie buffs to inspire the reopening of a local cinema on City Island. Read more here:
Film buffs rejoice as unique indie movie theater opens on City Island
–With reporting from AP
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
