National Cinema Day: Over 550 Venues Have Signed Up – £3 Cinema Tickets Coming To A Cinema Near You This September
On Saturday 3 September, cinemas across the UK will be offering everyone the chance of a cinema visit from just £3 under the banner of National Cinema Day.
Over 550 venues have signed up to participate in the event, including all of the major UK cinema operators and a wide range of smaller cinema operators and venues.
Echoing the success of similar ‘cinema day’ events of the late 1990s, National Cinema Day is intended first and foremost to be a celebration of UK cinema and cinema-going, the country’s most popular out-of-home leisure activity.
With the aim of encouraging and enabling as wide an audience of cinema-goers as possible to enjoy the big screen experience, National Cinema Day comes at a time when the sector has shown strong recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, with both box office and admissions now tracking at 80% of the record-breaking levels seen in 2018 and 2019, themselves the biggest years for cinema-going since 1970.
That success shows that while many still enjoy watching films on streaming and other services at home, nothing compares to the sights, sounds and sheer immersive experience of watching a film in its natural home, the cinema theatre.
National Cinema Day has been developed by the cross-industry body Cinema First and is supported by the Film Distributors’ Association and the UK Cinema Association. The event will be promoted through an ambitious and wide-ranging marketing campaign.
Looking forward to this weekend’s event, Iain Jacob, Chair of Cinema First, said ‘There seems no better time than now to celebrate UK cinema-going, one of the nation’s favourite out-of-home leisure activities. Coming off the back of a very strong summer for the sector and looking forward to further film highlights over the rest of the year, we wanted to give everyone a chance to enjoy the big screen experience.
While all the evidence confirms that cinema-going is amongst the most low-cost, best value-for-money leisure opportunities, we also of course recognise that there are significant impacts on household finances, brought about by the current cost of living crisis and wanted to do our bit to make a trip to the cinema even more affordable for the whole family
We look forward to National Cinema Day being a huge success.’
Further information on National Cinema Day, and details on those UK cinema sites participating, can be found at the National Cinema Day website.
| Abbeygate, Bury St Edmunds | 1 |
| Act One, Acton | 1 |
| Alhambra, Keswick | 1 |
| Alive West Norfolk | 1 |
| Arc Cinemas | 5 |
| ARC Stockton | 1 |
| Barbican, London | 1 |
| Bideford Cinema | 1 |
| Broadway, Letchworth | 1 |
| Broadway, Nottingham | 1 |
| Brynamman Cinema | 1 |
| Campbeltown Picturehouse | 1 |
| Castle Cinema, Hackney | 1 |
| Cinema at Campus West, Welwyn Garden City | 1 |
| Cinema in the Arches, Battersea | 1 |
| Cineworld Cinemas | 101 |
| Connaught Cinema, Worthing | 1 |
| Depot Cinema, Lewes | 1 |
| Dorking Halls | 1 |
| Dundee Contemporary Arts | 1 |
| Electric Cinema, Cannock | 1 |
| Electric, Birmingham | 1 |
| Empire Cinemas | 15 |
| Empire Consett | 1 |
| Bishop Auckland Town Hall | 1 |
| Gala Durham | 1 |
| Forum, Hexham | 1 |
| Genesis Cinema, London | 1 |
| Grosvenor Picture Theatre, Glasgow | 1 |
| Gwyn Hall, Neath | 1 |
| Highland Cinema, Fort William | 1 |
| Hippodrome Bo’ness, Falkirk Council | 1 |
| Hollywood Plaza Cinema Scarborough | 1 |
| Ilkley Cinema | 1 |
| IMC Cinemas | 5 |
| Jam Jar Cinema, Whitley Bay | 1 |
| Junction, Goole | 1 |
| Kavanagh Cinema, Herne Bay | 1 |
| Kinema In The Woods | 1 |
| Kino Cinemas Leven and Glenrothes | 2 |
| Leiston Film Theatre | 1 |
| Light Cinemas | 12 |
| Loewen Cinema, Mablethorpe | 1 |
| Lonsdale Cinemas | 2 |
| Lume Cinema, Kidderminster | 1 |
| Magic Lantern Cinema, Tywyn | 1 |
| Maltings, Berwick | 1 |
| Malvern Theatres | 1 |
| Market Hall Brynmawr | 1 |
| Merlin Cinemas | 16 |
| Mockingird, Birmingham | 1 |
| Montrose Playhouse | 1 |
| Moviehouse Cinemas | 4 |
| Natl Amusements (UK) | 17 |
| Newton Stewart Cinema | 1 |
| Northern Morris Cinemas | 6 |
| Nova Cinema, Woking | 1 |
| ODEON Cinemas | 113 |
| Omniplex Cinemas | 15 |
| Orion Cinemas | 2 |
| Palace Cinema, Malton | 1 |
| Parkway Cinema, Barnsley | 1 |
| Parkway Cinemas | 3 |
| Pavilion, Galashiels | 1 |
| Peckhamplex, London | 1 |
| Perth Playhouse | 1 |
| Phoenix Cinema, Pickaquoy Centre Trust | 1 |
| Phoenix, East Finchley | 1 |
| Phoenix, Leicester | 1 |
| Picture House, Uckfield | 1 |
| Picturehouse Cinemas | 26 |
| Pictureville Cinema, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford | 1 |
| Plaza Cinema, Liverpool | 1 |
| Plough Arts Centre, Torrington | 1 |
| QUAD Derby | 1 |
| Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast | 1 |
| Really Local Group | 3 |
| Reel Cinemas | 15 |
| Regal, Stowmarket | 1 |
| Regal, Tenbury | 1 |
| Regent Cinema, Marple | 1 |
| Regent Street Cinema | 1 |
| Rich Mix, Bethnal Green | 1 |
| Rio, Dalston | 1 |
| Riverside Studios, London | 1 |
| Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury | 1 |
| Savoy Cinemas | 6 |
| Savoy, Heaton Moor | 1 |
| Showroom, Sheffield | 1 |
| Silver Screen Cinema, Folkestone | 1 |
| Stag Sevenoaks | 1 |
| Station Cinema, Richmond | 1 |
| Strand Arts Centre, Belfast | 1 |
| Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 1 |
| Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford | 1 |
| Vue International | 88 |
| Warwick Arts Centre | 1 |
| Wells Film Centre | 1 |
| West Coast Cinemas | 2 |
| Woodville, Gravesend | 1 |
| WTW-Scott Cinemas | 11 |
| Zeffirellis, Ambleside | 1 |
About Cinema First
Cinema First is the cross-industry body charged with the promotion of cinemagoing in the UK. Its core constituents are the Film Distributors’ Association - representing UK film distributors, and the UK Cinema Association - representing UK cinema operators.
About the Film Distributors’ Association
The Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) is the trade body that represents UK film distributors. Its membership ranges from Hollywood studios to independent distributors and is responsible for 99 per cent of all films released theatrically in the UK.
About the UK Cinema Association
The UK Cinema Association (UKCA) represents the interest of well over 90 per cent of UK cinema operators by number and market share. Its membership ranges from single screen/owner-managed sites to the largest circuit and multiplex operators.
As will become obvious to anyone wanting to take advantage, the cinema chains are adding booking fees to this supposed bargain. We are expected to pay for the ticket booking process itself. Perhaps we, the public, should charge cinemas for giving up our time to travel to the their venues and watch the mostly dreadful corporate advertisements they call ‘films’ or ‘movies’. The least they could do is pay our travel costs.