National Cinema Day’s $3 movie tickets attracted 8.1M moviegoers

A $3 movie ticket promotion helped theaters nationwide attract 8.1 million moviegoers on Saturday, setting the attendance record to date for 2022.

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According to the National Association of Theater Owners, the promotion was intended to boost ticket sales during a historically slow weekend for cinema lovers, CNBC reported.

Meanwhile, Variety reported that the one-day event generated $24.3 million in ticket sales, an increase of roughly 9% compared with the previous Saturday despite the steeply discounted ticket prices, according to Comscore data.

More than 3,000 cinemas and 30,000 screens in the U.S. participated in the promotion, including both independent theaters and major chains such as AMC Entertainment and Regal Cinemas, CNBC reported.

“With National Cinema Day, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” Cinema Foundation President Jackie Brenneman said in a prepared statement.

“This event outstripped our biggest expectations. The idea of the day was to thank moviegoers for an amazing summer and now we have to thank them for this amazing day,” Brenneman added

According to Variety, the top 10 performing Saturday titles— in order — consisted solely of the following holdovers: “Top Gun: Maverick,” “DC League of Super Pets,” “Bullet Train,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “The Invitation,” “Beast,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” and Steven Spielberg’s 1975 shark thriller “Jaws.”

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