Cinema venues across the UK will on Saturday 3 September come together to celebrate cinema and cinema-going 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.
The first industry-wide initiative of this kind since the 1990s, National Cinema Day will see all participating cinemas offer tickets for all screenings from just £3, the aim being to encourage as large and wide an audience of cinema-goers as possible to enjoy the big screen experience.
The recovery of the UK cinema sector since the impacts of the pandemic has been amongst the very strongest of any global territory, with both box office and admissions now tracking at 80 per cent of the record-breaking levels seen in 2018 and 2019, themselves the biggest years for cinema-going since 1970.
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 effort using broadcast, digital and outdoor channels.
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 with the film of their choice.
While all the evidence confirms that cinema-going is amongst the most affordable and best value-for-money leisure opportunities, we also of course recognise the impacts of the current cost of living challenges facing many households and wanted to do our bit to make a trip to the cinema even more affordable.
I am hugely grateful for the level of support shown by colleagues across the industry for National Cinema Day, which we very much hope could become a key annual event.’
Further information on National Cinema Day, and details on those UK cinema sites participating can be found at the National Cinema Day website www.nationalcinemaday.uk