Okay so September 3rd is a new holiday called National Cinema Day and honestly I don’t care for all these makeshift holidays but this is one I can get behind.
It is unsure if this will be an annual holiday, but for one day only this year, you can see any movie at any time of day, at a participating movie theater for $3 dollars. And when we say any movie, that includes Dolby and IMAX formats as well. That’s the price of a regular size bag of chips and way less than any of the concession snacks.
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According to the website, NationalCinemaDay.org, this price does not include tax (which is about $2 additional) or online and/or third-party ticketing fees. Which means buy directly through the participating movie theaters or their online sites to avoid any regular priced tickets.
And if you’re wondering who is participating? It is over 3,000 theaters included and they range from big chain like AMC and Regal down to your smaller-lesser known. My advice, call and ask ahead of time.
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According to Jackie Brenneman, president of the nonprofit Cinema Foundation, she advises to purchase your tickets ahead of time.
“My one piece of advice is to buy your tickets in advance,” she says. “If there’s a specific movie or a specific technology you’re excited about, buy those tickets early.”
So we say, make it a movie marathon in theaters. Here are some movies still in theaters we recommend to watch on National Cinema Day.
(list derived from my participating theater, AMC, in NJ)
Nope
Two siblings running a horse ranch in California discover something wonderful and sinister in the skies above, while the owner of an adjacent theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon.
Runtime:2 hr 11 min
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul
Trinitie Childs – the proud first lady of a Southern Baptist megachurch, who together with her husband Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), once served a congregation in the tens of thousands. But after a scandal forces their church to temporarily close, Trinitie and Lee-Curtis must reopen their church and rebuild their congregation to make the biggest comeback that commodified religion has ever seen.
Runtime: 1hr 43min
Beast
Idris Elba (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, The Suicide Squad) stars in a pulse-pounding new thriller about a father and his two teenage daughters who find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion intent on proving that the savannah has but one apex predator.
Runtime: 1 hr 33 min
Three Thousand Years of Longing
While attending a conference in Istanbul, Dr. Alithea Binnie happens to encounter a djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems: first, she doubts that he’s real, and second, because she’s a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually, she’s beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 min
Bullet Train
Ladybug is an unlucky assassin who’s determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs has gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans as his latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe — all with connected yet conflicting objectives — on the world’s fastest train.
Runtime: 2 hr 6 min
Elvis
From his rise to fame to his unprecedented superstardom, rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley maintains a complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker, over the course of 20 years. Central to Presley’s journey and happiness is one of the most influential people in his life — Priscilla.
Runtime: 2 hr 39 min
Breaking
Desperate for money and running out of options, Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley holds several people hostage inside a bank, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with police.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 min
DC League of Super Pets
Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime side by side in Metropolis. However, when the Man of Steel and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a ragtag group of animals to master their own newfound powers for a rescue mission.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 min
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
The Red Ribbon Army was once destroyed by Son Goku. Individuals who carry on its spirit have created the ultimate androids — Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. However, these two androids call themselves superheroes and start attacking Piccolo and Gohan.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 min
JAWS, 1975
When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) wants to close the beaches, but mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) overrules him, fearing that the loss of tourist revenue will cripple the town. Ichthyologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and grizzled ship captain Quint (Robert Shaw) offer to help Brody capture the killer beast, and the trio engage in an epic battle of man vs. nature.
Runtime:
Bodies Bodies Bodies
When a group of 20-somethings gets stuck at a remote mansion during a hurricane, a party game gone very, very wrong ends with a dead body on the ground and fake friends at every turn as they try to find the killer among them.
Runtime: 1 hr 34 min
Top Gun: Maverick
After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. Training a detachment of graduates for a special assignment, Maverick must confront the ghosts of his past and his deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who choose to fly it.
Runtime: 2 hr 11 min
Minions: The Rise of Gru
In the 1970s, young Gru tries to join a group of supervillains called the Vicious 6 after they oust their leader — the legendary fighter Wild Knuckles. When the interview turns disastrous, Gru and his Minions go on the run with the Vicious 6 hot on their tails. Luckily, he finds an unlikely source for guidance — Wild Knuckles himself — and soon discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.
Runtime: 1 hr 27 min
Thor: Love and Thunder
Thor embarks on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced — a quest for inner peace. However, his retirement gets interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who — to his surprise — inexplicably wields his magical hammer. Together, they set out on a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance.national cinema
Runtime: 1 hr 59 min
Spider-Man: No Way Home
With Spider-Man’s identity now revealed, our friendly neighborhood web-slinger is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from the high stakes of being a superhero. When Peter asks for help from Doctor Strange, the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.
Runtime: 2 hr 41 min