Many people now feel safe enough to resume watching films in theaters — including the Current’s movie critic. Credit: Facebook / Santikos Entertainment

As part of the newly launched National Cinema Day, multiple San Antonio theaters will sell tickets for $3 all day long on Saturday, Sept. 3.

Regal Cinemas at Huebner Oaks and Alamo Quarry as well as all 10 Santikos locations around the city are participating in the promotion, according to company officials. The offer is good for all showings in every format, including n Santikos’ VIP section, where patrons can order food and drink while laying back in reclining chairs.

National Cinema Day is the brainchild of the Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the National Association of Theater Owners. The discounts are a bid to boost attendance on what’s traditionally one of the slowest days of the year for movie theaters, according to the Associated Press.

Theater owners have struggled to recover since the COVID-19 pandemic, something made all the more difficult by the rise of streaming services. Cineworld, Regal’s parent company, cited the meager supply of blockbuster releases as a contributing factor in its plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the AP reports.

Earlier this year, Santikos’ long-running arthouse theater the Bijou closed its doors, the chain blaming a “changing dynamic of art films and our lease coming up for renewal.” Last week, the company said it would shift indie and foreign films to other theaters, offering them via a series called the Bijou Collection.

Those interested in celebrating the inaugural National Cinema Day celebration can buy tickets ahead of time by visiting regmovies.com or santikos.com.

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This article appears in Aug 24 – Sep 6, 2022.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...