National Cinema Day is back with $4 movie tickets

New York (CNN) — If you haven’t seen some of the summer’s hottest blockbusters, there’s no time like the present.

Sunday is the second annual National Cinema Day. At more than 3,000 participating theaters across the country the price of a movie ticket is just $4. The last time the average movie ticket was priced this low was in 1989, according to survey data from the National Association of Theatre Owners. Last year, the average ticket price was $10.53.

Theaters have been working to regain their footing post-pandemic. Summer hits like “Barbie” have helped buoy sales numbers, with AMC seeing its highest quarterly attendance since 2019. But movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc is still millions in debt and the ongoing strike by Hollywood actors and writers has caused film production to screech to a halt. National Cinema Day could give the theater business a boost.

Last year’s Cinema Day, when tickets were only $3, drew 8 million participants and raked in $23.8 million at the box office, a 103% jump from the day before.

The Cinema Foundation, the non-profit spearheading the initiative, says Cinema Day propelled long-term theater attendance. In a report published earlier this year, the foundation found “nearly 60% of surveyed attendees (said) they returned to the movies more frequently after National Cinema Day.”

This year, the top five movies captivating audiences are “Blue Beetle,” “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Strays.”

“Blue Beetle” and “Barbie” are distributed by CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.

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