After a one-year hiatus, National Cinema Day will be returning in 2025, though it will take place under a new name and won’t be limited to a single day. The event will be organized again by The Cinema Foundation, a non-profit affiliated with NATO with a mandate to “promote and expand the cinema industry.”
The new series under the name “@ the Movies” will take place through quarterly events held throughout the year. The first event will take place on January 19th, “National Popcorn Day” in which moviegoers can purchase popcorn at participating theatres for one-half the usual price. Other events will include “Sneak Peak Saturday” on April 19th, “Date Night” on August 19th, and “Family Day” and November 9th. The specific deals tied to these events have not yet been announced.
The first “National Cinema Day” took place in 2022 on Saturday, September 3rd, with steeply discounted $3 movie tickets intended to lure audiences to theatres at a time when theatre attendance usually lags at summer’s end. That year, the drop-off was particularly steep when studios were offering a thin slate of new releases leading up to that day.
The one-day event was a notable success, drawing over 8 million moviegoers to theatres across the U.S. The second “National Cinema Day” was held the next year on Sunday, August 27th, with $4 tickets on offer. This drew even more moviegoers, with 8.5 million movie tickets sold.
Despite this success, National Cinema Day presents several challenges as well. Studios have been hesitant to introduce any important new films on the weekend because discounted ticket prices would translate into a lower opening weekend gross for their movies.
And since the number of new movie releases has increased after the end of the pandemic and labor strikes, it has been more challenging to carve out an otherwise slow weekend in which to hold National Cinema Day. It has also caused challenges with overwhelmed theatre staff, struggling to keep up with the swell of attendance.
After National Cinema Day is skipped in 2024, the new “@ the Movies” series in 2025 will no longer focus on discounted ticket prices but will instead focus on deals for concessions and, perhaps other in-theatre amenities. The first two National Cinema Days have proven that moviegoing can be sparked by well-organized national campaigns that promote the benefits of cinema.