If you are one of the few people that have yet to watch Barbie or Oppenheimer in theaters, your patience is paying off. On Sunday, August 27, National Cinema Day returns for the second year in a row, bringing $4 movie tickets along with it to more than 3,000 participating theaters in the US, including top chains AMC, Regal, and Cinemark.
As was the case last year, for one day only, participating theaters are charging $4 for any movie in any format. Want to see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in 3D? $4. Want to see Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story in Harkins’ fancy CINÉ XL auditorium? $4. And if you can find an IMAX screening of Blue Beetle, that’ll be $4 as well.
How to get $4 movie tickets
If you want to see if your local theaters are participating, visit the National Cinema Day website. Type your city into the search bar near the top of the page to see every participating theater near you. No matter where you live in the US, you’ll probably find at least one theater. There were 16 theaters around me in Phoenix, AZ with showtimes for Blue Beetle.
You can also visit this Fandango link to buy movie tickets for Sunday, August 27. Just remember that you still have to pay taxes and fees, so it will end up being a bit more than $4. That said, the average movie ticket near me costs around $13, so it’s still a huge discount.
Some of the biggest films of the year are still showing in theaters, such as the aforementioned Barbie and Oppenheimer. Other new releases you might want to consider include Gran Turismo, Theater Camp (directed by and starring The Bear’s Molly Gordon), and Bottoms (a new teen sex comedy about a high school fight club starring Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edibiri). Jurassic Park is also screening in theaters for the movie’s 30th anniversary.
Once again, National Cinema Day is being put on by The Cinema Foundation, a non-profit that is striving to “advance the moviegoing experience, by developing future diverse workforces and moviegoing communities through research, education, and philanthropy.”