Labor Day weekend is often a time for the last vacation of the year, camping, BBQs, and outdoor getaways.
It’s not known for a strong box office weekend, but the cinema industry has put a focus on getting butts on the seats this year with a new promotional offering. Here’s how National Cinema Day went and which films led the way over the holiday weekend.
What happened: The inaugural National Cinema Day took place on Saturday September 3rd and saw over 3,000 theaters nationwide offering $3 tickets. Over 8.1 million people watched a film on Saturday, making it the highest-paying Saturday of 2022 according to The National Association of Theater Owners.
The total is even more impressive when compared to the 7.8 million people who saw a film in the United States over the entire Labor Day weekend of 2021.
Saturday’s 8.1 million count also nearly equals the total for the entire Labor Day weekend before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, which had 8.2 million visitors. The cinemas had 1 million visitors on Friday and 4.2 million visitors over the whole of last weekend.
The backdrop of the cinema sector: National Cinema Day was created to thank moviegoers for a strong summer of box office numbers and the return of many fans to theaters after years of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participating theater chains in the USA included AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC, Cinemark stocks CNK and Royal Cinemas.
Many movie theaters also offered concession discounts, with AMC offering a drink and popcorn combo for $5. Theaters also offered the $3 price point for many premium screen options, including screens for IMAX Corporation IMAX.
AMC CEO Adam Aaron divided on Twitter that AMC sold 1.6 million tickets Saturday as part of National Cinema Day and also sold a ton of concessions without sharing a number for food and drink.
“Cinemas are dead is so much…um…merde (according to a previous tweet, google it. It’s more stylish in French. As CEO, I should try…
