$3 Movies All Saturday In Crystal Lake, Cary For National Cinema Day

CRYSTAL LAKE AND CARY, IL — Taking in a movie Saturday, Sept. 3, in the Crystal Lake and Cary area will cost only a fraction of what it usually does at theaters participating in "National Cinema Day," an effort to lure movie lovers back to the theater to see a film and revive flat box office sales.

As many as 3,000 participating theaters nationwide, including those owned by Regal, AMC, Cinemark, Fridley and other chains, will knock down ticket prices to as low as $3 as part of the effort, an initiative of the National Association of Theatre Owners’ nonprofit Cinema Foundation.

Participating theaters in the Crystal Lake and Cary area include:

• Regal Crystal Lake Showplace, 5000 US-14, Crystal Lake
• AMC Lake in the Hills 12, 311 N. Randall Road, Lake in the Hills
• Classic Cinemas Cinema 12, 100 L W Bessinger Drive, Carpentersville
• AMC South Barrington 30, 175 Studio Dr, South Barrington

Participating theaters are offering the $3 tickets for every showing on Saturday, and in all formats. Prices do not include tax or any online ticketing fees.

Movie theaters nationwide were shuttered for months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but came back this summer to see box office activity return to near normal activity with releases such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Minions: Rise of Gru,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and “Jurassic World Dominion.”

Movie ticket sales are about 20 percent less than in pre-pandemic 2019, but there have been about 30 percent fewer releases this year, The Associated Press reported.

“After this summer’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” Cinema Foundation president Jackie Brenneman said in a statement. “We’re doing it by offering a ‘thank you’ to the moviegoers that made this summer happen, and by offering an extra enticement for those who haven’t made it back yet.”

Before the movie begins, theatergoers will see a reel of upcoming releases from A24, Amazon Studios, Disney, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Neon, Paramount, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony, United Artists Releasing, Universal and Warner Bros.

National Cinema Day could become an annual event. Other countries have experimented with cheap movie tickets to lure people to their local movie houses, but this is the first time such an endeavor has been attempted in the United States, according to the AP.